Genetic Messages

Abstract

Every living organism inherits the information it needs to develop from a microscopic speck into a fully formed member of its own species, and then passes this on to its offspring so they can do the same. The information the genes convey is encoded in the sequence in which the nucleotides are arranged on the DNA molecules, for this specifies the sequence in which various amino acids become linked to form particular proteins. The information contained in the genome is necessary, but not sufficient, for creating an organism, since growth and development also depend on feedback from the milieu in which they take place. The interaction between nature and nurture is really an interaction between inherited and acquired information, for development is an information-driven process, not a physically driven one.