Istrail Sorin, De-Leon Smadar Ben-Tabou, Davidson Eric H
Center for Computational Molecular Biology and Department of Computer Science, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Dev Biol. 2007 Oct 15;310(2):187-95. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2007.08.009. Epub 2007 Aug 10.
The definitive feature of the many thousand cis-regulatory control modules in an animal genome is their information processing capability. These modules are "wired" together in large networks that control major processes such as development; they constitute "genomic computers." Each control module receives multiple inputs in the form of the incident transcription factors which bind to them. The functions they execute upon these inputs can be reduced to basic AND, OR and NOT logic functions, which are also the unit logic functions of electronic computers. Here we consider the operating principles of the genomic computer, the product of evolution, in comparison to those of electronic computers. For example, in the genomic computer intra-machine communication occurs by means of diffusion (of transcription factors), while in electronic computers it occurs by electron transit along pre-organized wires. There follow fundamental differences in design principle in respect to the meaning of time, speed, multiplicity of processors, memory, robustness of computation and hardware and software. The genomic computer controls spatial gene expression in the development of the body plan, and its appearance in remote evolutionary time must be considered to have been a founding requirement for animal grade life.
动物基因组中数千个顺式调控控制模块的决定性特征是它们的信息处理能力。这些模块在控制诸如发育等主要过程的大型网络中“连接”在一起；它们构成了“基因组计算机”。每个控制模块以与其结合的入射转录因子的形式接收多个输入。它们对这些输入执行的功能可以简化为基本的与、或和非逻辑功能，而这些也是电子计算机的单位逻辑功能。在这里，我们将进化产物基因组计算机的工作原理与电子计算机的工作原理进行比较。例如，在基因组计算机中，机器内部通信通过（转录因子的）扩散发生，而在电子计算机中，它通过电子沿预先组织好的线路传输发生。随后在时间意义、速度、处理器多样性、内存、计算稳健性以及硬件和软件方面的设计原则存在根本差异。基因组计算机在身体蓝图的发育过程中控制空间基因表达，并且其在遥远进化时期的出现必须被视为动物级生命的一个基本要求。
