Why the Central Dogma: on the nature of the great biological exclusion principle

Eugene V. Koonin

Biology Direct · 2015 · 53 citations · 7 references

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Abstract

The Central Dogma of molecular biology posits that transfer of information from proteins back to nucleic acids does not occur in biological systems. I argue that the impossibility of reverse translation is indeed a major, physical exclusion principle that emerges due to the transition from the digital information carriers, nucleic acids, to analog information carriers, proteins, which involves irreversible suppression of the digital information.

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