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I'm my mind, gene expression is at least as important as the coding genome. AFAIU, the later mostly encodes the structure of proteins, which naively are the fa
by ilyagr 2y ago
I'm my mind, gene expression is at least as important as the coding genome.
AFAIU, the later mostly encodes the structure of proteins, which naively are the factory machines of or cells (enzymes, that is) and some of its building blocks. The gene expression tells the factory what to produce (a tail or an ear, say), when to produce it, and how much. More relevant to the topic of this article, the gene expression would determine which structures and pathways of the brains (or adrenal glands, or any other organs) to suppress, and which to reinforce and build up in a new generation of humans.
The building blocks are important, but once they are good enough, it matters more what you choose to build with them.
- ilyagr 2y agoPerhaps what the grandparent meant is that we have little clue to how exactly any particular change in non-coding DNA actually affects the functioning of our minds and bodies, we have few tools to study that beyond the seemingly obvious fact that it does have to encode the structure of all the organs of our body and the fundamental structure of our brains somehow.