4 ms·
Presumably if the number of genes cannot be pared down below 473, it dies very quickly if one of the 149 genes is knocked out. But "it doesn't work without it"
by WJW 5y ago
Presumably if the number of genes cannot be pared down below 473, it dies very quickly if one of the 149 genes is knocked out. But "it doesn't work without it" is not a very satisfactory answer to "what does it do".
- amelius 5y agoYes, this is similar to opening a radio and saying "I don't know what this transistor does; let's take it out and see what the radio does".
- dekhn 5y agoSee also "Can a biologist fix a radio" https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/pdf/S1535-6108(02)00133-2.pdf https://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/pdf/S1535-6108(02)00133-2.p... "Doug & Bill"(http://www2.biology.ualberta.ca/locke.hp/dougandbill.htm http://www2.biology.ualberta.ca/locke.hp/dougandbill.htm) "Could a neuroscientist understand a microprocessor"? https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005268 https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/jo... The funny thing is if you read the history of Feynman and others, most of them grew up opening up radios and learning how they worked by removing things. fixing them. It's a very common theme (sort of falls off post-transistor tho). I opened up radios as a kid, tried to figure out what parts did what, and eventually gave up.
- breck 5y agoThat is a great read. Thanks :)