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The relativity of biological function

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Abstract

Function is a central concept in biological theories and explanations. Yet discussions about function are often based on a narrow understanding of biological systems and processes, such as idealized molecular systems or simple evolutionary, i.e., selective, dynamics. Conflicting conceptions of function continue to be used in the scientific literature to support certain claims, for instance about the fraction of “functional DNA” in the human genome. Here we argue that all biologically meaningful interpretations of function are necessarily context dependent. This implies that they derive their meaning as well as their range of applicability only within a specific theoretical and measurement context. We use this framework to shed light on the current debate about functional DNA and argue that without considering explicitly the theoretical and measurement contexts all attempts to integrate biological theories are prone to fail.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Jan Aerts and Steve Hoffmann for critical reading of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4501, USA

    Manfred D. Laubichler

  2. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, USA

    Manfred D. Laubichler

  3. Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Rd, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA

    Manfred D. Laubichler

  4. Bioinformatics Group at the Department of Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Center of Bioinformatics, LIFE - Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, and German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research, University Leipzig, Härtelstraβe 16-18, 04107, Leipzig, Germany

    Peter F. Stadler

  5. Max-Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Inselstraße 22, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Peter F. Stadler

  6. Fraunhofer Institut für Zelltherapie und Immunologie – IZI, Perlickstraße 1, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Peter F. Stadler

  7. Department of Theoretical Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währingerstraße 17, 1090, Wien, Austria

    Peter F. Stadler

  8. Center for non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, University of Copenhagen, Grønnegårdsvej 3, 1870, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Peter F. Stadler

  9. Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Rd, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA

    Peter F. Stadler

  10. Computational EvoDevo Group, Department of Computer Science and Interdisciplinary Center of Bioinformatics, University Leipzig, Härtelstraβe 16-18, 04107, Leipzig, Germany

    Sonja J. Prohaska

  11. TFome Research Group at Department of Computer Science, Paul-Flechsig-Institute for Brain Research, and Interdisciplinary Center of Bioinformatics, University Leipzig, Härtelstraβe 16-18, 04107, Leipzig, Germany

    Katja Nowick

Authors
  1. Manfred D. Laubichler
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  2. Peter F. Stadler
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  3. Sonja J. Prohaska
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  4. Katja Nowick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter F. Stadler.

Additional information

K.N. is supported by the Volkswagen Foundation within the initiative “Evolutionary Biology”. This work has also been supported by the Templeton Foundation (grant # 24332) and NSF SES Grant No. 1243575.

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Laubichler, M.D., Stadler, P.F., Prohaska, S.J. et al. The relativity of biological function. Theory Biosci. 134, 143–147 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-015-0215-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12064-015-0215-5

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