Art Chadwick responded:
> Using Spetners definition (his expertise is in information theory) of
> what constitutes new information (and he deals in his book with each
> of the cases you suggest), none of these meet the criteria of new
> information. Either they exploit information that is already in the
> genome, but inactive, or they involve a loss of information that
> decreases specificity. You can test your ideas against his very careful
> explanations, if you wish.
I have a question. Let's say that we allow a gene to mutate in a single
step by any one of a number of ways (point mutation, deletion, insertion,
inversion, frameshift, exon swapping, & etc). Given Spetner's criteria
for quantifying "information", is there _any_ single change that could
alter the function of the gene's product and yet would be considered to
increase "information". If not in a single mutation, then what about
in two or three mutations? Would you be able to suggest any _possible_
examples (I'm talking "hypothetical" here), of single or multiple-
step changes that would be tallied as an increase in information under
Spetner's definitions?
For example, if the decrease in an enzyme's specificity represents
a decrease in "information" could we turn this around and say that
an increase in an enzyme's affinity for a particular substrate
represented an increase in "information"?
Regards,
Tim Ikeda
tikeda@sprintmail.hormel.com (despam address before use)