ArticleInterface focus2012
Downward causation by information control in micro-organisms.
Article in Interface focus, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Who's who inPeerJ · 2021Article
- Article
- Coarse-graining as a downward causation mechanism.Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2017Review
- Top-down models in biology: explanation and control of complex living systems above the molecular level.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2016Review
- RNA modularity for synthetic biology.F1000prime reports · 2013Review
- Attenuation of loop-receptor interactions with pseudoknot formation.Nucleic acids research · 2012Article
- Top-down causation and emergence: some comments on mechanisms.Interface focus · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The concepts of functional equivalence classes and information control in living systems are useful to characterize downward (or top-down) causation by feedback information control in synthetic biology. Herein, we re-analyse published experiments of microbiology and synthetic biology that demonstrate the existence of several classes of functional equivalence in microbial organisms. Classes of functional equivalence from the bacterial operating system, which processes and controls the information encoded in the genome, can readily be interpreted as strong evidence, if not demonstration, of top-down causation (TDC) by information control. The proposed biological framework reveals how this type of causality is put in action in the cellular operating system. Considerations on TDC by information control and adaptive selection can be useful for synthetic biology by delineating the irreducible set of properties that characterizes living systems. Through a 'retro-synthetic' biology approach, these considerations could contribute to identifying the constraints behind the emergence of molecular complexity during the evolution of an ancient RNA/peptide world into a modern DNA/RNA/protein world. In conclusion, we propose TDCs by information control and adaptive selection as the two types of downward causality absolutely necessary for life.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.