Institute of Diabetes and Obesity (IDO), Helmholtz Diabetes Center (HDC) at Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764, Oberschleissheim, Germany.
Biology and Technology Studies Institute Munich (BITSIM), Lappenweg 16, 80939, Munich, Germany.
Genetica. 2024 Dec;152(4-6):211-230. doi: 10.1007/s10709-024-00216-1. Epub 2024 Oct 19.
Here we intend to shift the "DNA- and information-centric" conception of biological inheritance, with the accompanying exclusion of any non-DNA matter, to a "poly-matter network" framework which, in addition to DNA, considers the action of other cellular membranous constituents. These cellular structures, in particular organelles and plasma membranes, express "landscapes" of specific topologies at their surfaces, which may become altered in response to certain environmental factors. These so-called "membranous environmental landscapes" (MELs), which replicate by self-organization / autopoiesis rather than self-assembly, are transferred from donor to acceptor cells by various - vesicular and non-vesicular - mechanisms and exert novel features in the acceptor cells. The "DNA-centric" conception may be certainly explanatorily sufficient for the transfer of heritable phenotype variation to acceptor cells following the copying of DNA in donor cells and thereby for the phenomenon of biological inheritance of traits. However, it is not causally sufficient. With the observation of phenotype variation, as initially manifested during bacterial transformation, the impact of environmental factors, such as nutrition and stress, in the differential regulation of gene expression has been widely accepted and resulted in intense efforts to resolve the underlying epigenetic mechanisms. However, these are explained under a conceptual frame where the DNA (and associated proteins) are the only matter of inheritance. In contrast, it is our argumentation that inheritance can only be adequately understood as the transfer of DNA in concert with non-DNA matter in a "poly-matter network" conception. The adequate inclusion of the transfer of non-DNA matter is still a desideratum of future genetic research, which may pave the way for the experimental elucidation not only of how DNA and membrane matter act in concert to enable the inheritance of innate traits, but also whether they interact for that of acquired biological traits. Moreover, the "poly-matter network" conception may open new perspectives for an understanding of the pathogenesis of "common complex" diseases.
在这里，我们打算将“以 DNA 和信息为中心”的生物遗传概念，以及随之而来的将任何非 DNA 物质排除在外，转变为一个“多物质网络”框架，除了 DNA 之外，该框架还考虑了其他细胞膜成分的作用。这些细胞结构，特别是细胞器和质膜，在其表面表达特定拓扑结构的“景观”，这些结构可能会因某些环境因素而发生改变。这些所谓的“膜环境景观”（MELs）通过自我组织/自组织而不是自组装进行复制，通过各种囊泡和非囊泡机制从供体细胞传递到受体细胞，并在受体细胞中发挥新的功能。“以 DNA 为中心”的概念对于在供体细胞中复制 DNA 后将可遗传的表型变异传递到受体细胞中，并由此解释生物性状的遗传现象，在解释上肯定是充分的。然而，它在因果关系上并不充分。随着对表型变异的观察，如最初在细菌转化中表现出来的那样，环境因素（如营养和压力）对基因表达的差异调控的影响已被广泛接受，并导致人们努力解析潜在的表观遗传机制。然而，这些解释都是在一个概念框架内进行的，在这个框架中，DNA（和相关蛋白）是唯一的遗传物质。相比之下，我们的论点是，只有在“多物质网络”概念中，将 DNA 与非 DNA 物质一起传递，才能充分理解遗传。充分纳入非 DNA 物质的传递仍然是未来遗传研究的一个愿望，这可能为实验阐明铺平道路，不仅可以阐明 DNA 和膜物质如何协同作用，使先天特征得以遗传，还可以阐明它们是否相互作用以实现后天获得的生物特征。此外，“多物质网络”概念可能为理解“常见复杂”疾病的发病机制开辟新的视角。
