Understanding cells

摘要

Many of the properties that characterize living organisms are also exhibited by individual cells. These include communication, homeostasis, spatial and temporal organization, reproduction, and adaptation to external stimuli. Biological explanations of these complex phenomena are often based on the logical and informational processes that underpin the mechanisms involved. Two examples of this are the significance of the structure of DNA, and the mechanisms that control gene expression. DNA's structure relates to heredity because of the coding and replica-tive capacity of its polynucleotide sequence, whereas the interactions of activators and repressors with promoter regions are best understood in terms of the feedback loops that regulate gene expression. Most experimental investigations of cells, however, do not readily yield such explanations, because they usually put greater emphasis on molecular and biochemical descriptions of phenomena. To explain logical and informational processes on a cellular level, therefore, we need to devise new ways to obtain and analyse data, particularly those generated by genomic and post-genomic studies.