Praise of chromosome "folly" : confessions of an untamed molecular structure

Praise of chromosome "folly" : confessions of an untamed molecular structure / Antonio Lima-de-Faria.

This timely book contains the latest information on the molecular organization of the chromosome. The information is original and is presented in an unorthodox way, while carefully chosen elucidating and attractive figures serve to add clarity to the subject treated. Thus, the book will add greatly...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lima-de-Faria, A.
Corporate Author: World Scientific (Firm)
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Singapore ; Hackensack, N.J. : World Scientific Pub. Co., ©2008.
Subjects:
Chromosomes.
Mutation (Biology)
Genetics.
genetics.
SCIENCE > Life Sciences > Molecular Biology.
Chromosomes
Genetics
Online Access:Click for online access
Table of Contents:
  • pt. I. The source of "folly" and the reason for confessions. 1. I am an inconspicuous and unattractive creature painted with lipstick. 2. They say that I resemble a sausage. 3. The cell is my castle and prison but I may swim and dance like an odalisque in a harem. 4. The striptease show
  • how I dress and undress at every cell division. 5. I have created my own private world full of tricks, back door exits and novel solutions
  • I am an untamed innovator. 6. My origins were humble
  • the antithetical nature of matter left a mark on my construction. 7. My split personality
  • the source of "folly". 8. The reason for confessions. 9. I have been abused and covered with insults. 10. The wisdom of the foolish. 11. Scientific concepts are prone to change throughout time
  • the nature of science demands that previous ideas be superseded, as new technologies allow a deeper insight into matter. 12. What seems ludicrous at a given time turns out to be the correct explanation several years later. The gene was considered to consist of protein, but is now known to be a ribbon of DNA. 13. In the last 20 years the number of human genes was reduced from 200,000 to 32,000, and this figure remains uncertain. 14. The models of chromosomes have varied drastically with time
  • pt. II. Who cares for gravity. 15. The chromosome in its organization and activity follows its own path
  • it does not obey gravity, randomness, selection or magnetism. 16. Definition of gravity
  • Newton's laws are good for planets and apples. 17. What is a force
  • the four fundamental forces. 18. Newton's laws do not apply in quantum mechanics. 19. Not all bodies fall when unsupported. 20. The ascent of sap in trees
  • another unexplained phenomenon. 21. An unknown process decides which cells are going to grow in the direction of gravity and which are going to counteract it. 22. Physicists construct antigravity devices that oblige frogs and plants to float. 23. Atoms hide many properties that may disclose the mechanisms behind living processes
  • liquid helium can build a fountain ejecting itself out of a flask. 24. Levitation in metals
  • what was impossible became possible. 25. Animals, like plants, have created devices that counteract gravity. 26. In giraffes the distance between the heart and the head is over two meters. 27. No chromosome obeys Newton's laws
  • in their movements chromosomes bypass gravity. 28. Chromosomes move in all directions of the mariner's compass. 29. It is the programmed pattern of the organism that decides the direction of movement. 30. The devices used by the chromosome which result in particular movements. 31. Chromosomes move inside the nucleus, like goldfish in an aquarium, without the use of spindle fibers. 32. The chromosome's autonomy takes many forms
  • the chromosome ends may take over the function of active mobility on the spindle. 33. Chromosomes inherited from the father may be sent to a different compartment than those inherited from the mother. 34. How to move equally well without guiding asters and centrosomes. 35. DNA replication already disregarded gravity. 36. Mineral crystallization disposes also of gravity and imposes massive copying. 37. The egg contents rotate and the cells move within the embryo independently of gravity. 38. Snails have a shell in the form of a spiral which Is either left-handed or right-handed
  • the choice is determined by genes which orient the axis of cell division independently of gravity. 39. It comes as a revelation that the chromosome does not need strong magnets and extreme low temperatures to evade gravity. 40. Goddesses do not obey earthly laws
  • pt. III. Who cares for randomness. 41. Randomness was originally foreign to science. 42. Randomness is an economic concept introduced into 17th century science. 43. Randomness is synonymous with ignorance
  • "the folly of probability". 44. It took the last 20 years to demonstrate that what were considered chromosome accidents were ordered events. 45. The transmission of hereditary traits
  • from confusion to the ability to predict. 46. Mutation has been the main example of a random event. 47. How the prevailing fashion led to fashionable results, or how random mutations turned out to be non-random. 48. Rearrangements that were random events turned out to be directed by mobile elements. 49. The repeat sequences of the human genome are, instead of being "junk," a treasure trove of information. 50. Genes with similar functions could not be located nearby
  • random mutations and rearrangements would disrupt any possible order. 51. The gene turns out to consist of a highly ordered procession of DNA stations locked by well defined starting and finishing sites. 52. The gene is never alone. 53. The periodic packaging of DNA along chromosomes has turned out to be predictable. 54. In cell division the proper movement of chromosomes is maintained by correction of improper attachment to the moving apparatus. 55. Cells sense and stop uncontrolled divisions released by cancer stimuli. Moreover, RNAs are able to silence genes. 56. Prevention of failing of chromosome pairing and of recombination. 57. Brownian motion
  • the trap of the physicist and biologist. 58. The cell was seen as a pea soup, but now most of its molecules are known to have an address. 59. "The genetic code is certainly not random". 60. Noise is disorder
  • music is order and unity. 61. The distinction between genetic noise and genetic music. 62. "Errors" are not of all possible kinds
  • pt. IV. Who cares for selection. 63. Selection Is a political, not a scientfic concept. 64. Three myths in science: phlogiston in chemistry, ether in physics and selection in biology. 65. Definitions of selection. 66. Selection is not a material component that can be measured. 67. The distinction between evolution and Darwinism. 68. The merits and limitations of Darwinism. 69. An interpretation of evolution based on physico-chemical processes. 70. How the chromosome evades selection. 71. A chaotic chromosome could not evade selection but an organized one cannot do anything else but circumvent it. 72. The chromosome does not need selection to conserve, innovate and explore. 73. Repair mechanisms ensure the maintenance of order by occurring at different molecular levels
  • the production of DNA, RNA and protein are under different types of control. 74. Without DNA repair no human would exist. 75. RNA integrity which is an obligatory condition for normal cell function is maintained by another type of repair. 76. RNA surveillance
  • an additional mechanism that improves safety by creating quality control. 77. "Molecular chaperones" are proteins that ensure that a correct molecular assembly will predominate. 78. How to confuse evolutionists
  • the correction can function backwards, ancestral RNAs can restore the original DNA sequence. 79. Innovation by creation of new gene sequences. 80. Exploration is achieved by change of genetic pathways into new functional alleys. 81. How plasmids and accessory chromosomes evade selection. 82. There are genes which are able to "cheat" natural selection. 83. Sensing mechanisms are used by the chromosome to adjust gene number and switch on genes that improve survival. 84. The multitude of protective mechanisms devised by the chromosome "prohibit natural selection". 85. The aggregation and cell adhesion of Dictyostelium cells follow the same chemical solutions employed by embryos of higher organisms. 86. The egg is a storehouse of information, prepared by the mother's chromosomes
  • this guarantees the formation of an identical body pattern. 87. The genetic code does not contain direct information to produce a coherent organism
  • this lies in the hands of other molecular processes that charter development by building a road map. 88. Minute cell RNAs, that previously were despised, turn out to coordinate messenger RNAs. 89. The mechanisms responsible for coherence and order have been experimentally demonstrated. 90. The drastic reshapings that occur in the embryo are directed by specific proteins. 91. Cells of one group change the shape, mitotic rate and pattern of their neighbors. 92. The chromosome has made sure that the organism not only protects itself from inner errors but also from outer enemies. 93. Cell death is as programmed as cell life. 94. Cells can commit suicide but amoebae are potentially immortal. 95. Both the cell and the chromosome have an unfailing memory. 96.
  • When King Louis XV of France was going to be married, the Princess in question could give birth to rabbits. 97. Why should a woman not produce a mouse
  • pt. V. Who cares for magnetism. 98. Magnetism and electricity are two manifestations of the same phenomenon. 99. Bacteria, bees, and pigeons orient according to the magnetic field. 100. Cells generate electricity and magnetism. 101. When magnets are divided into minor pieces, each separate unit continues to behave as a magnet, acquiring new north and south poles, but small magnets can also rebuild large ones. 102. When fertilized eggs are divided into separate cells, each cell acquires the properties of the initial egg giving rise to separate embryos. 103. Separate embryos which are fused result in a single normal organism. 104. When chromosomes are divided into minor pieces, each separate unit continues to behave as an independent chromosome by incorporating or creating new telomeres and centromeres. 105. The same chromosomes may disassemble and reassemble maintaining their genetic properties
  • a deer species may be formed with 35 or only 3 chromosomes. 106. Ants may be produced using a single chromosome but also 94. 107. Plants of the same genus have been formed with 4 or 36 chromosomes. 108. A protozoan can be produced with 2 chromosomes but also with 500. 109. In birds and plants a series of minute chromosomes are an obligatory component of their chromosome set.
  • 110. The separation of chromosomes into minor units, as well as their reunion, follows well-defined solutions. 111. The properties shared by magnets and chromosomes may have their origin in the polarization already present at the DNA level.

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