Title :
Should genetics get an information-theoretic education?
Abstract :
This article outlines the potential contribution of engineering of providing a theoretical framework and conceptual tools to biologists. This article intend´s to show that engineering concepts can help account for the prominent role of information in life phenomena. Among the many domains of biology where information plays a prominent role, this paper focuses on the communication of genetic information through the ages. An extensive discussion on how genetic information is faithfully communicated is presented. Information theory and the experience gained by engineers for designing and implementing error-correcting codes helps in understanding this phenomena.
Keywords :
error correction codes; genetics; molecular biophysics; error-correcting codes; genetic information; information-theoretic education; Bioinformatics; Biological information theory; Biology; Chemistry; Error correction codes; Genetic communication; Genomics; Information theory; Physics; Power engineering and energy; Animals; Computational Biology; Genetic Code; Genetics; Genome; Humans; Information Storage and Retrieval; Information Theory; Models, Genetic; Systems Biology;
Journal_Title :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/MEMB.2006.1578662