From: <Mark_M_Mills@pc2000dfw.com>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 1997 12:48:18 -0500
Subject: linear genes
Tim,
>TP: BY "linear," I meant only the the nucleotide sequence is linear --
......ATTGCGCTAGCT... --
>and that genes are organized one after the next in linear order on a
chromosome.
I have read in a couple of places that 'genes' are not identifiable units
along a chromosome. In various processes different parts of the chromosome
are used and in this manner one section of code may find itself being used
different ways in several different processes. Thus, sematic codes
existing like beads along the chromosome is a somewhat misleading image,
though popular.
This is concept is used to explain the difficulty genetic engineers face in
splicing only a single 'feature' into a host organism. Instead of
inserting a single desirable feature, the engineer must insert fairly large
chunks of code with a multitude of carried features.
Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Mark
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