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A systemic concept of the gene^*

Maria Inês de Moura Campos Pardini; Romeu Cardoso Guimarães

Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, UNESP, 18618-000 Botucatu, SP, Brasil. Send correspondence to R.C.G.

ABSTRACT

The univocal correspondence between one gene and one polypeptide has been challenged by many examples of ambiguities. A rapidly expanding list of one-to-many or many-to-one correspondences includes: genomic rearrangements, alternative processing of transcripts, overlapping translation frames, RNA editing, alternative translation modes, and polyprotein cleavage.
The genomic message requires interpretation through decoding by a sophisticated information retrieval system which should also carry some kind of information. The full meaning of the whole cell, as a unit, is emphasized.
The gene is a combination of (one or more) nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) sequences, defined by the system (the whole cell, interacting with the environment, or the environment alone, in subcellular or pre-cellular systems), that gives origin to a product (RNA or polypeptide).

Keywords: Systemic concept; Gene.

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* This article is derived from the Master's Dissertation of the first author, presented to the Instituto de Biociências de Botucatu in 1989.