Date: Tue, 10 Jun 1997 11:26:54 +0100
From: Peter Bentley <P.Bentley@cs.ucl.ac.uk>
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Subject: Re: linear genes
Mark_M_Mills wrote:
> 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?
As I understand it, you have it exactly right. Genes can overlap each
other
on the chromosome and often perform many different functions at
different
stages of the embryology of the individual.
Peter.
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