Beyond the Gene: Evolution in Four Dimensions
The concept of biological information is often equated with the genetic code, a linear sequence of DNA nucleotides that holds the blueprint for an organism. However, Eva Jablonka and Marion J. Lamb, and their wider body of work, challenges this simplistic, gene-centric view. They argue that "the meaning of biological information" is not solely a property of the DNA sequence itself but is a dynamic process involving interpretation and context. This broader perspective fundamentally incorporates epigenetic inheritance and, in doing so, presents a significant challenge to the long-standing "Modern Synthesis" of evolutionary biology. The Expanded Definition of Biological Information The traditional view, rooted in the Modern Synthesis, sees information as being exclusively encoded in DNA and passed from one generation to the next. In this model, DNA mutations are the primary source of heritable variation upon which natural selection acts. However, Jablonka...