Abstract
It is widely acknowledged in the literature on philosophy of biology and, more recently, among biologists themselves that the gene concept is currently in crisis. This crisis concerns the so-called “classical molecular concept”, according to which a gene is a DNA segment encoding one functional product, which can be either a RNA molecule or a polypeptide. In this paper, we first describe three categories of anomalies that challenge this way of understanding genes. Then, we discuss proposals for revising the gene concept so as to accommodate the increasingly known complexity of genomic architecture and dynamics. Our intention is to provide an informative overview of recent proposals concerning how we should conceive of genes, which are probably not very familiar to many science educators and teachers, but can bring relevant contributions to genetics teaching, in particular, to a more critical treatment of genes and their role in living systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
By “molecular pleiotropy”, Burian refers to the production of distinct molecules out of a single putative gene, with a major role being played by the cellular and external environments in determining which protein is produced.
“Molecular epigenesis” concerns the revision of sequence-based information through alteration of molecular conformations or action of noninformational molecules, which plays a major role in development.
In alternative splicing, a pre-mRNA molecule is processed—in particular, spliced—in a diversity of manners, so that different combinations of exons emerge in the mature mRNA. In this manner, several distinct mRNAs and, thus, polypeptides can be obtained from the same DNA sequence. In the case of DSCAM in Drosophila melanogaster, for instance, alternative splicing can lead to ca. 38,016 protein products (Celotto and Graveley 2001).
A gene is said to be nested when it is entirely located inside another gene.
Genes are said to be overlapping when they share DNA sequences.
In transplicing, mature RNA is formed during processing from RNA transcripts of DNA regions from different chromosomes.
mRNA editing is an alteration of mRNA nucleotides during processing, so that there can be a lack of correspondence between nucleotide sequences in mature mRNA and nucleotide sequences in DNA.
The generation of the diverse antigen receptors found in lymphocytes, and, consequently, of antibody specificity depends on a combinatorial set of genomic rearrangements between different DNA segments called variable segments, constant segments, and diversity and joining segments.
Pseudogenes are genomic DNA sequences which are derived from, and similar to protein-coding genes, but show signs diagnostic of protein-coding deficiency, such as frameshifts and premature stop codons, and are usually non-functional. Transcribed pseudogenes are copies of protein-coding genes that have accumulated such indicators of coding sequence decay, but are still transcribed, and could be potentially functional in the regulation of gene transcription (Khachane and Harrison 2009).
An open reading frame is the DNA or RNA sequence located between the initiation codon, where the codons that will be translated into amino acids in protein synthesis begin to be read, and the termination codon, where protein synthesis comes to an end.
Moss appeals to a central notion in Susan Oyama’s “developmental systems theory” or “perspective”, namely, causal parity between genes and other developmental resources (See Oyama [1985]2000; Oyama et al. 2001). This perspective highlights the missing element in deterministic accounts of the genotype-phenotype relationship, namely, development, in which genes, organisms, and environments interact with each other in such a way that each is both cause and effect in a complex way (Lewontin 1983, 2000).
In order to put Fogle’s proposal to work, one has to deal with the rather loose and sometimes confusing usage of terminology in molecular genetics, resulting from the expansion of the zoo of instrumentally formulated genetic entities in the last three decades (Falk 1986). Fogle demands that domains should be clearly specified by structure and/or activity. Therefore, a first task is to build a formal system to designate and describe domains in DNA. This can be done through gene ontology efforts, as developed, for instance, by the Gene Ontology Consortium (Ashburner et al. 2000) and the ENCODE Project (The ENCODE Project Consortium 2007). A second development is suggested, however, by Fogle’s ideas, namely, the establishment of formal procedures for the combinations of domains in genes, taking in due account, as far as possible, the practices currently used by the communities of geneticists and molecular biologists. After all, they would ultimately have to make use of the libraries of domains and formal rules of combination resulting from such an effort.
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/glossary/glossary_g.shtml. Accessed at August 8th 2011.
The ENCODE database can be reached at http://www.genome.gov/10005107#4. The participants of the ENCODE can be found at http://www.genome.gov/26525220. See also (The ENCODE Project Consortium 2007).
A polycistronic pre-mRNA is a single long transcript coding for the syntheses of more than one protein.
The regulome is the complete set of components involved with regulation in a cell.
In the post-genomic era, researchers have been pushed into adopting a “systemic” perspective, which has given rise to a wave of “systems biology” in the fields of molecular biology, genomics, and proteomics. Systems biology is often presented as a non-reductionistic approach (Chong and Ray 2002; Barabási and Oltvai 2004; Nature 2005). Many genomic researchers seem quite eager, indeed, to declare that they have overcome “fallacies” such as determinism and reductionism (see, e.g., Venter et al. 2001, p. 1348), even though a sort of embarrassed determinism (cf. Leite 2007) lives on in their writings. But it is not clear, at present, what “systems biology” really means in these fields (Keller 2005), and, furthermore, it can be put into question if it is really such a non-reductionistic approach as many of its advocates claim (Bruni 2003; Morange 2006; El-Hani et al. 2009), much in the same sense as systems ecology was previously charged of being nothing but a large-scale reductionistic approach (e.g., Levins and Lewontin 1985; Bergandi 1995).
We added this remark by inspiration of a comment made by a reviewer of the original manuscript, who called attention to this sentence as such a take-home message, stimulating us to highlight it in the paper.
For a semiotic interpretation of signaling pathways, also based on C. S. Peirce’s theory of signs, see El-Hani et al. (2007).
Here we can clearly see how Keller and Harel’s dene concept is different from Gerstein and colleagues’ treatment of the gene as a union of genomic sequences encoding a coherent set of potentially overlapping functional products. In this latter concept, the gene is taken to be the union of all sequences encoding functional products synthesized by means of the differentially spliced mRNA molecules. The dene, in turn, is a statement about each of the differentially spliced mRNAs.
Small interfering RNA: a class of small double-stranded RNA molecules, which play several roles in the cell, including a key involvement in RNA interference, an important phenomenon of genetic regulation discovered in the 1990s. RNA interference silences gene expression in a highly specific manner.
Micro-RNAs: short RNA molecules that act as post-transcriptional regulators by binding to complementary sequences on target mRNAs, usually resulting in repression of protein synthesis and, thus, gene silencing. Although the first miRNAs were characterized in the early 1990s, their recognition as a distinct class of biologic regulators only took place in the early 2000s. Nowadays, they were shown to play several functions in gene repression and activation.
Small nucleolar RNAs: a class of small RNA molecules that guide chemical modifications of other RNAs, such as rRNAs and tRNAs.
A “genomic domain” is defined by Scherrer and Jost (2007b, p. 106) as a “DNA domain containing fragments of one or several genes coordinated by cis controls, […] often unit of transcription and, in some cases, of replication”.
The notion of ‘program’, particularly when conceived in terms of “genetic programs”, is highly controversial (e.g., Oyama [1985]2000; Nijhout 1990; Moss 1992; Griffiths and Neumann-Held 1999; Keller 2000), but we will not pursue this discussion here, since it would take us away from our major goals in this paper. Scherrer and Jost do not elaborate on the concept of “programme”. They remark, however, that the genon and transgenon constitute a flexible, not rigidly defined program, to the extent that epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression and transmission modify both the genon and its precursors at the DNA level. In these modifications, the genon and transgenon may be modified with no changes being made at the DNA level. The genon, for instance, can be changed by epigenetic modifications such as DNA methylation, while the transgenon can be modified by the addition or elimination of factors originated either in the genome or in the environment, according to cell compartment, physiological context, cell age, etc.
Evidently, this is highly reminiscent of Fogle’s and Pardini and Guimarães’ accounts about the gene.
The prefix ‘cis’ is used to denote a sequence that is in the same DNA molecule, in the same chromosome, in relation to another sequence of interest.
The prefix ‘trans’ is used to denote a sequence (or its product) at a different DNA molecule or chromosome, in relation to a sequence of interest.
References
Abelson, J., Trotta, C. R., & Li, H. (1998). tRNA splicing. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 273, 12685–12688.
Ashburner, M., Ball, C. A., Blake, J. A., Botstein, D., Butler, H., Cherry, J. M., et al. (2000). Gene ontology: Tool for the unification of biology. Nature Genetics, 25, 25–29.
Ast, G. (2004). How did alternative splicing evolve? Nature Reviews Genetics, 5, 773–782.
Atlan, H., & Koppel, M. (1990). The cellular computer DNA: Program or data? Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 52, 335–348.
Barabási, A. L., & Oltvai, Z. N. (2004). Network biology: Understanding the cell’s functional organization. Nature Reviews Genetics, 5, 101–113.
Bergandi, D. (1995). “Reductionist Holism”: An oxymoron or a philosophical chimera of E. P. Odum’s systems ecology? Ludus Vitalis: Journal of Philosophy of Life Sciences, III, 145–180.
Black, D. L. (2003). Mechanisms of alternative pre-messenger RNA splicing. Annual Review of Biochemistry, 72, 291–336.
Brosius, J., & Gould, S. J. (1992). On “Genomenclature”: A comprehensive (and respectful) taxonomy for pseudogenes and other “Junk DNA”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 89, 10706–10710.
Bruni, L. E. (2003). A sign-theoretic approach to biotechnology. Copenhagen: Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Copenhagen. Ph.D. Thesis.
Burian, R. M. (1985). On conceptual change in biology: The case of the gene. In D. J. Depew & B. H. Weber (Eds.), Evolution at a crossroads: The new biology and the new philosophy of science (pp. 21–24). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Burian, R. M. (2004). Molecular epigenesis, molecular pleiotropy, and molecular gene definitions. History and Philosophy of Life Sciences, 26, 59–80.
Burian, R. M. (2005). The epistemology of development, evolution and genetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carthew, R. W. (2006). Gene regulation by MicroRNAs. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development, 16, 203–208.
Cech, T. R., Zaug, A. J., & Grabowski, P. J. (1981). In vitro splicing of the ribosomal RNA precursor of Tetrahymena: involvement of a guanosine nucleotide in the excision of the intervening sequence. Cell, 27, 487–496.
Celotto, A., & Graveley, B. (2001). Alternative splicing of the Drosophila DSCAM pre-mRNA is both temporally and spatially regulated. Genetics, 159, 599–608.
Chien, K. R. (2007). MicroRNAs and the tell-tale heart. Nature, 447, 389–390.
Chong, L., & Ray, L. B. (2002). Whole-istic biology. Science, 295, 1661.
Claverie, J.-M. (2001). What if there are only 30,000 human genes? Science, 291, 1255–1257.
Cooper, M. D., & Alder, M. N. (2006). The evolution of adaptive immune systems. Cell, 124, 815–822.
Coyne, J. A. (2000). The gene is dead: Long live the gene. Nature, 408, 26–27.
Crick, F. H. (1958). On protein synthesis. Symposium of the Society of Experimental Biology, 12, 138–163.
El-Hani, C. N. (2007). Between the cross and the sword: The crisis of the gene concept. Genetics and Molecular Biology, 30, 297–307.
El-Hani, C. N., Arnellos, A., & Queiroz, J. (2007). Modeling a semiotic process in the immune system: Signal transduction in B-cell activation. TripleC-Cognition, Communication, Co-operation, 5, 24–36.
El-Hani, C. N., Queiroz, J., & Emmeche, C. (2009). Genes, information, and semiosis. Tartu: Tartu University Press (Tartu Semiotics Library).
Epp, C. D. (1997). Definition of a gene. Nature, 389, 537.
Falk, R. (1986). What is a gene? Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 17, 133–173.
Falk, R. (2000). The gene—A concept in tension. In P. Beurton, R. Falk, & H.-J. Rheinberger (Eds.), The concept of the gene in development and evolution (pp. 317–348). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Falk, R. (2001). Can the norm of reaction save the gene concept? In R. S. Singh, C. B. Krimbas, D. B. Paul, & J. Beatty (Eds.), Thinking about evolution: Historical, philosophical and political perspectives (pp. 119–140). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Flodin, V. (2009). The necessity of making visible concepts with multiple meanings in science education: The use of the gene concept in a biology textbook. Science & Education, 18, 73–94.
Fogle, T. (1990). Are genes units of inheritance? Biology and Philosophy, 5, 349–371.
Fogle, T. (2000). The dissolution of protein coding genes. In P. Beurton, R. Falk, & H.-J. Rheinberger (Eds.), The concept of the gene in development and evolution (pp. 3–25). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gelbart, W. (1998). Databases in genomic research. Science, 282, 659–661.
Gericke, N. M., & Hagberg, M. (2007a). Definition of historical models of gene function and their relation to students’ understandings of genetics. Science & Education, 16, 849–881.
Gericke, N. M., & Hagberg, M. (2007b). The phenomenon of gene function in textbooks for upper secondary school in Sweden—A comparative analysis with historical models of gene function. In Proceedings of the IOSTE International meeting on critical analysis of school science textbooks (pp. 554–563). Hammamet, Tunisia: University of Tunis.
Gericke, N. M., & Hagberg, M. (2010a). Conceptual incoherence as a result of the use of multiple historical models in school textbooks. Research in Science Education, 40, 605–623.
Gericke, N. M., & Hagberg, M. (2010b). Conceptual variation in the depiction of gene function in upper secondary school textbooks. Science & Education, 19, 963–994.
Gerstein, M. B., Bruce, C., Rozowsky, J. S., Zheng, D., Du, J., Korbel, J. O., et al. (2007). What is a gene, post-ENCODE? History and updated definition. Genome Research, 17, 669–681.
Giorgi, C., Fatica, A., Nagel, R., & Bozzoni, I. (2001). Release of U18 snoRNA from its host intron requires interaction of Nop1p with the Rnt1p endonuclease. The EMBO Journal, 20, 6856–6865.
Gould, S. J. (2002). The structure of evolutionary theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Graveley, B. R. (2001). Alternative splicing: Increasing diversity in the proteomic world. Trends in Genetics, 17, 100–107.
Gray, R. D. (1992). Death of the gene: Developmental systems fight back. In P. E. Griffiths (Ed.), Trees of life: Essays in the philosophy of biology (pp. 165–209). Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Griffiths, P. E., & Neumann-Held, E. (1999). The many faces of the gene. BioScience, 49, 656–662.
Griffiths, P. E. (2001). Genetic information: A metaphor in search of a theory. Philosophy of Science, 68, 394–403.
Guimarães, R. C., & Moreira, C. H. C. (2000). O Conceito Sistêmico de Gene—Uma Década Depois. In I. M. L. D’Ottaviano & I. C. Q. Gonzáles (Eds.), Auto-organização: Estudos Interdisciplinares (pp. 249–280). Campinas: UNICAMP.
Hall, B. K. (2001). The gene is not dead, merely orphaned and seeking a home. Evolution and Development, 3, 225–228.
Hamer, D. H., & Copeland, P. (1994). The science of desire: The search for the gay gene and the biology of behavior. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Hamer, D. H., Hu, S., Magnuson, V. L., Hu, N., & Pattatucci, A. M. L. (1993). A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science, 261, 321–327.
Hanson, M. R. (1996). Protein products of incompletely edited transcripts are detected in plant mitochondria. The Plant Cell, 8(1), 1–3.
Hendrickson, D. G., Hogan, D. J., McCullough, H. L., Myers, J. W., Herschlag, D., Ferrell, J. E., et al. (2009). Concordant regulation of translation and mRNA abundance for hundreds of targets of a human MicroRNA. PLoS Biology, 7, e1000238.
Hilgers, V., Bushati, N., & Cohen, S. M. (2010). Drosophila MicroRNAs 263a/b confer robustness during development by protecting nascent sense organs from apoptosis. PLoS Biology, 8, e1000396.
Ideker, T., Galitski, T., & Hood, L. (2001). A new approach to decoding life: Systems biology. Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, 2, 343–372.
International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium. (2001). Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome. Nature, 409, 860–921.
Joaquim, L. M. (2009). Gene: Questões Epistemológicas, Conceitos Relacionados e Visões de Estudantes de Graduação. Salvador: Graduate Studies Program in History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching, Federal University of Bahia and State University of Feira de Santana. Master’s thesis.
Judson, H. F. (2001). Talking about the genome. Nature, 409, 769.
Kampa, D., Cheng, J., Kapranov, P., Yamanaka, M., Brubaker, S., Cawley, S., et al. (2004). Novel RNAs identified from an in-depth analysis of the transcriptome of human chromosomes 21 and 22. Genome Research, 14, 331–342.
Karres, J. S., Hilgers, V., Carrera, I., Treisman, J., & Cohen, S. M. (2007). The conserved MicroRNA MiR-8 tunes atrophin levels to prevent neurodegeneration in Drosophila. Cell, 131, 136–145.
Kay, L. E. (2000). Who wrote the book of life? A history of the genetic code. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Keller, E. F. (2000). The century of the gene. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Keller, E. F. (2005). The century beyond the gene. Journal of Biosciences, 30, 3–10.
Keller, E. F., & Harel, D. (2007). Beyond the gene. PLoS One, 2, e1231.
Kendler, K. S. (2005). “A Gene for”: The nature of gene action in psychiatric disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 1243–1252.
Khachane, A. N., & Harrison, P. M. (2009). Assessing the genomic evidence for conserved transcribed pseudogenes under selection. BMC Genomics, 10, 435.
Kitcher, P. (1982). Genes. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 33, 337–359.
Knight, R. (2007). Reports of the death of the gene are greatly exaggerated. Biology and Philosophy, 22, 293–306.
Leite, M. (2007). Promessas do Genoma. São Paulo: UNESP.
Levins, R., & Lewontin, R. C. (1985). The dialectical biologist. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Lev-Maor, G., Sorek, R., Levanon, E. Y., Paz, N., Eisenberg, E., & Ast, G. (2007). RNA-editing-mediated exon evolution. Genome Biology, 8, R29.
Lewontin, R. C. (1983). The organism as the subject and object of evolution. Scientia, 118, 63–83.
Lewontin, R. C. (2000). The triple helix: Gene, organism, and environment. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Li, M., Wang, I. X., Li, Y., Bruzel, A., Richards, A. L., Toung, J. M., et al. (2011). Widespread RNA and DNA sequence differences in the human transcriptome. Science, 333, 53–58.
Magen, A., & Ast, G. (2005). The importance of being divisible by three in alternative splicing. Nucleic Acids Research, 33, 5574–5582.
Magurran, A. (2000). Backseat drivers, review of the century of the gene by E. F. Keller. New York Times Book Reviews, 10 December, p. 26.
Maynard Smith, J. (2000). The Cheshire cat’s DNA. The New York Review of Books, 47, 43–46.
Meyer, L. M. N. (2010). Como Ensinar a Estudantes Universitários de Ciências Biológicas e Ciências da Saúde sobre a Crise do Conceito de Gene? Salvador: Graduate Studies Program in History, Philosophy, and Science Teaching, Federal University of Bahia and State University of Feira de Santana. Master’s thesis.
Morange, M. (2006). Post-genomics, between reduction and emergence. Synthese, 151, 355–360.
Moss, L. (1992). A kernel of truth? On the reality of a genetic program. PSA, 1, 335–348.
Moss, L. (2001). Deconstructing the gene and reconstructing molecular developmental systems. In S. Oyama, P. E. Griffiths, & R. D. Gray (Eds.), Cycles of contingency: Developmental systems and evolution (pp. 85–97). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Moss, L. (2003a). What genes can’t do. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Moss, L. (2003b). One, two (too?), many genes? Quarterly Review of Biology, 78, 57–67.
Moyle, L. (2002). Most ingenious: Troubles and triumphes of a century of genes. Biology and Philosophy, 17, 715–727.
Murre, C. (2007). Epigenetics of antigen-receptor gene assembly. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development, 17, 415–421.
Nature. (2005). In pursuit of systems (editorial). Nature, 435, 1.
Neumann-Held, E. (1999). The gene is dead—Long live the gene: Conceptualizing genes the constructionist way. In P. Koslowski (Ed.), Sociobiology and bioeconomics: The theory of evolution in biological and economic thinking (pp. 105–137). Berlin: Springer.
Neumann-Held, E. (2001). Let’s talk about genes: The process molecular gene concept and its context. In S. Oyama, P. E. Griffiths, & R. D. Gray (Eds.), Cycles of contingency: Developmental systems and evolution (pp. 69–84). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Nijhout, H. F. (1990). Metaphors and the role of genes in development. BioEssays, 12, 441–446.
Niwa, R., & Slack, F. J. (2007). The evolution of animal MicroRNA function. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development, 17, 145–150.
Oyama, S. ([1985]2000). The ontogeny of information: Developmental systems and evolution (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Oyama, S., Griffiths, P. E., & Gray, R. D. (Eds.). (2001). Cycles of contingency: Developmental systems and evolution. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Pardini, M. I. M. C., & Guimarães, R. C. (1992). A systemic concept of the gene. Genetics and Molecular Biology, 15, 713–721.
Pearson, H. (2006). What is a gene? Nature, 441, 399–401.
Pitombo, M. A., Almeida, A. M. R., & El-Hani, C. N. (2008). Gene concepts in higher education cell and molecular biology textbooks. Science Education International, 19, 219–234.
Pontes, O., & Pikaard, C. S. (2008). siRNA and miRNA processing: New functions for cajal bodies. Current Opinion in Genetics and Development, 18, 197–203.
Portin, P. (1993). The concept of the gene: Short history and present status. Quarterly Review of Biology, 56, 173–223.
Rheinberger, H.-J. (2000). Gene concepts: Fragments from the perspective of molecular biology. In P. Beurton, R. Falk, & H.-J. Rheinberger (Eds.), The concept of the gene in development and evolution (pp. 219–239). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Riordan, J., Rommens, J., Kerem, B., Alon, N., Rozmahel, R., Grzelczak, Z., et al. (1989). Identification of the cystic fibrosis gene: Cloning and characterization of complementary DNA. Science, 245, 1066–1073.
Rios, R. I. (2004). O Início do Fim do Gene, Resenha de Keller, E. F. O Século do Gene. Ciência Hoje, 34, 72–73.
Santos, V. C., & El-Hani, C. N. (2009). Idéias sobre Genes em Livros Didáticos de Biologia do Ensino Médio publicados no Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Educação em Ciências, 9(1), a6.
Santos, V. C., Joaquim, L. M., & El-Hani, C. N. (in press). Hybrid Deterministic views about genes in biology textbooks: A key problem in genetics teaching. Science & Education doi:10.1007/s11191-011-9348-1
Scherrer, K., & Jost, J. (2007a). The gene and the genon concept: A functional and information-theoretic analysis. Molecular System Biology, 3, 1–11.
Scherrer, K., & Jost, J. (2007b). The gene and the genon concept: Coding versus regulation. A conceptual and information-theoretic analysis storage and expression in the light of modern molecular biology. Theory in Biosciences, 126, 65–113.
Smith, M., & Adkison, L. R. (2010). Updating the model definition of the gene in the modern genomic era with implications for instruction. Science & Education, 19, 1–20.
Stotz, K., Griffiths, P. E., & Knight, R. (2004). How biologists conceptualize genes: An empirical study. Studies in the History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 35, 647–673.
The ENCODE Project Consortium. (2007). The ENCODE (ENCyclopedia of DNA elements) project. Science, 306, 636–640.
Turner, W. J. (1995). Homosexuality, type 1: An Xq28 phenomenon. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 24, 109–134.
Uney, J. B., & Lightman, S. J. (2006). MicroRNAs and osmotic regulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 103, 15278–15279.
Valadi, H., Ekström, K., Bossios, A., Sjöstrand, M., Lee, J. J., & Lötvall, J. O. (2007). Exosome-mediated transfer of mRNAs and microRNAs is a novel mechanism of genetic exchange between cells. Nature Cell Biology, 9, 654–659.
Venter, J. C., Adams, M. D., Myers, E. W., Li, P. W., Mural, R. J., Sutton, G. G., et al. (2001). The sequence of the human genome. Science, 291, 1305–1351.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological process. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wang, W., Zhang, J., Alvarez, C., Llopart, A., & Long, M. (2000). The origin of the Jingwei gene and the complex modular structure of its parental gene, Yellow Emperor, in Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 17, 1294–1301.
Waters, C. K. (1994). Genes made molecular. Philosophy of Science, 61, 163–185.
Waters, C. K. (2004). What was classical genetics? Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science C, 35, 783–809.
Weber, M. (2004). Philosophy of experimental biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whorf, B. L. (1940). Science and linguistics. Technology Review, 42(229–231), 247–248.
Wilkins, A. S. (2002). Grappling with developmental complexity. BioEssays, 24, 1193–1195.
Williams, G. C. (1966). Adaptation and natural selection. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Wu, L., Fan, J., & Belasco, J. G. (2006). MicroRNAs direct rapid deadenylation of mRNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, 103, 4034–4039.
Zhang, B., Pan, X., Cobb, G. P., & Anderson, T. A. (2007). MicroRNAs as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Developmental Biology, 302, 1–12.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the State of Bahia Foundation for the Support of Research (FAPESB) for graduate studies grants, and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and FAPESB for financial support. We also thank CNPq for a grant for productivity in research. We are also indebted to Vanessa Carvalho dos Santos and Leyla Mariane Joaquim for suggestions about the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Meyer, L.M.N., Bomfim, G.C. & El-Hani, C.N. How to Understand the Gene in the Twenty-First Century?. Sci & Educ 22, 345–374 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-011-9390-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-011-9390-z