WHAT IS A GENE?

September 2, 2009 by Patrice Ayme

A QUANTUM STATE READY TO COMPUTE WITH THE ENVIRONMENT…

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Abstract: Using the full power of the philosophy of Quantum mechanics, I suggest
that heredity (of the so called "phenotype") arises partly as an inheritance of
geometrical elements entangled with the environment by a Quantum computation. This
is hopefully a deep insight that solves several riddles, and especially how such
complicated morphogenesis arises from so little.

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The initial definition of the concept of "gene" dates from the nineteenth century,
shortly after Mendel’s work. The idea was that a gene is defined as any smallest
element of hereditability in a living organism.

This is much better than overspecialized definitions having to do with DNA. First
of all, some viruses contain no DNA. But if one catches one of these viruses, they
will feel very much alive: the SARS virus is an example. So one would have to
replace "DNA" by "nucleic acid sequence having a functional effect".

But there are several drawbacks with this. First there is such a small number of
"genes" using that nucleic acid definition, that it stretches the imagination
towards incredulity that all the inheritable information is contained therein.
It’s hubris to decide we know all, when obviously something seems so amiss.

Secondly, division of nuclear DNA is only part of what divides during cell
division. Mitochondria (with their own DNA) also divides. So do many organelles,
which acquire specific positions during division. For example the Golgi apparatus.
The localization of other organelles also seems to indicate specific functions
during cell division. In addition, organelle positioning mediated by the actin
cytoskeleton is implicated in the inheritance of organelles by the daughter cells.
In other words, there is a lot of geometry dividing when cells divide, beyond
nuclear acid dividing.

Third, prions have been discovered. Prions are infectious agents that are composed
of protein. Such agents have been discovered to propagate by transmitting a
misfolded protein state. Of course, some people will declare that the propagation
of a "geometrical state" is not the propagation of a "gene". According to the acid
definition of "gene", certainly not. But, according to the original, and most
general definition, why not?

Fundamentally, life is a form of nanotechnology, itself a form of Quantum Physics.

Life is a form of organized Quantum. The Quantum is all about states. Quantum
states, OK. But Quantum states are truly geometrical states. Just like the prion.

Conclusion: genes are inheritable geometrical states (in particular, some of them
are pieces of nucleic acid states).

One could say: how did we progress here, besides having a more mathematical, more
general definition of "gene"?

Well, Quantum states do not just lay in state. Quantum states are geometrical
states obtained by mixing particular initial conditions with the geometry of the
environment. And as they do so, they do more. That is the core of the dispute
between Bohr and Einstein. Bohr believed that one could not detach the apparatus
from the experience being conducted. So he introduced an element of non locality
that infuriated Einstein. On that particular point, Einstein was wrong, as more
and more experiments have definitively demonstrated.

Non locality shows up as a computation. For example, as a deep space,

transgalactic photon meets a galaxy, the geometry of the photon state interacts
with the geometry of the galaxy, producing gravitational lensing. Thus, from two
geometries as initial condition, one gets, through a Quantum computation, a more
complex one. Complexity has been Quantum generated. I propose that the complexity
of life is generated (in part) through that exact Quantum mechanism.

Gravitational lensing is an observed fact. And, although a Quantum theory of

gravity does not exist yet, the facts, as described here, are beyond dispute, at
this level of generality (see the note for those who know advanced physics and
would object to the gravitation-Quantum conflation just boldly evoked, in a
conceptual leap).

Most probably, something of the same sort probably happens during biological
morphogenesis. indeed, otherwise, one would have to invent some new facts to
dispel reality as it is known to happen, both on the smallest (Quantum) and
largest (Transgalactic) scale.

Hence combining geometrical genes with the geometry of the environment through a
quantum computation generates the observed complexity of life.

Erwin Schrodinger, the Quantum physicist with the eponymous equation, wrote a
short book, "What is life?" in which he carefully considered that a reproducing
"aperiodic crystal" ought to be at the core of the genetic storage of life It was
a good guess. It was credited by F. Crick, and several other most famous
biologists, has having inspired them.

But that was a while ago (1944). Thus, it may have been time to make further
informed guesses…

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Patrice Ayme

http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/

http://patriceayme.com/

http://tyranosopher.blogspot.com/

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Note 1: I breathed through some physics so advanced above that it may well be
false. But, if it false, known physics would have to be modified.

In particular, I gave gravitational lensing as an example of Quantum computation.

On the face of it, this is completely silly, since gravitational lensing is purely
"classical". But, philosophically, it is fully cogent. Let me explain.

In "general relativity", Einstein’s theory of gravitation, the matter-energy

tensor determines the geodesics of space-time. Basically the heftier the mass-
energy in a neighborhood, the more space-time is (positively) curved in this
neighborhood: geodesics can converge. Photons describe geodesics, so they can
converge to a point beyond a galaxy, and, sitting at that point, looking towards
it, the galaxy has acted as a giant lens. This is how Einstein’s theory was
confirmed by an Eddington expedition to Africa in 1919, as a solar eclipse allowed
to observe that sun grazing light indeed deviated in the exact amount (twice that
predicted by simple Newtonian gravity).

This is "classical", id est, non Quantum physics. In Quantum physics, though, the
trajectory of the photon as it curves graciously around the galaxy, cannot be
determined. Saying that the photon follows a geodesics, the mainstay of Einstein’s
theory, has no meaning. Instead a mysterious happening a la Bohr is going on. But
here the laboratory is the entire neighborhood around a galaxy, something hundreds
of thousands of light years across. The Schrodinger cat is not just dead and
alive, it has swallowed a galaxy, too. Whatever is going on is hidden, and not
described by either Quantum theory or Einstein’s gravity.

The only thing we can say, for sure, is that some form of Quantum computation is
going on. And that is what I said. In light of this, viewing biological
morphogenesis as a Quantum computation is no more outrageous.

Note 2: I did not mention "non coding" DNA (so called junk DNA). Although it
constitutes 95% of the genome, and, although it probably does much, it only adds
more acid to the mix. Instead the process above, obtaining the apparition of
massive complexity through the Quantum interaction of inherited geometry with the
environment, is a completely new explanatory scheme.

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