Sorry.
At 11:30 AM 7/1/98 -0700, Greg Billock wrote:
>Glenn,
>
>> >When the system has dependencies like this (i.e. not every symbol is
>> >independent of every other symbol), it is too aggressive to calculate
>> >the information as 2*length (2 bits per base). The reason is because
>> >there are long-range interdependencies in the genome.
>>
>> I think I see where we differ. The interesting thing about biological
>> systems is that there is NO intersymbol dependencies. Thus while Shannon
>> is obviously talking about a Markov transition maxtrix in which the
>> symbols DO depend, and indeed in language the symbols do depend on previous
>> choices, in biological systems this seems not to be the case. Quoting
Yockey,
>>
>> "Intersymbol influence is an important repository of redundant
information
>> in written languages. In spite of considerable search of the protein text
>> no intersymbol influence has been found. This source of redundance will
>> have to be ignored until its magnitude and statistical structure is
>> discovered-if it exists at all." ~ H. P. Yockey, "An Application of
>> Information Theory to the Central Dogma and the Sequence Hypothesis,"
>> Journal of Theoretical Biology, 46(1974):369-406, p. 384
>>
>> I believe this still holds, although I can't put my hand on a citation at
>> this moment. Are we still in disagreement?
>
>I don't know whether Yockey is talking about DNA structure or whether
>he's talking about DNA decoding or about DNA-as-it-must-exist-in-organisms.
>
>DNA structure is probably free of interdependence--DNA is stable.
>DNA decoding is fairly free of interdependence (modulo some practical
>and minimal constraints).
>DNA as a whole most definitely has intersymbol constraints, although
>they are complicated, and its structure is presently unknown. If Yockey
>is talking about ignoring it when discussing information in DNA as a
>whole, I fear his project is probably headed for disappointment, since
>this is exactly the interesting part. My guess is, though, that he's
>talking about decoding-context information.
>
>-Greg
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glenn
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
Foundation, Fall and Flood
& lots of creation/evolution information
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm