🚀 go-pugleaf

john baez (baez@guitar.ucr.edu) wrote:

: >> So what I'm wondering is this: given the complete genome of an organism, how
: >> much *additional information* would you need to give someone for them to
: >> be able to build a living copy of that organism?

: >This is a very interesting thread.
: >Could your question be similar to say:
: >Are all clones' phenotypes the same?

	All clones' phenotypes are definitely *not* the same - consider 
aphid colonies, in which all individuals are members of a single clone. 
However, there exist phenotypically different castes, like workers, 
soldiers, &c, just like hymenoptera.
	Presumably the triggering stimulus for development into a soldier 
as opposed to a worker is some chemical signal produced by the queen (or 
whatever aphid colonies have). Thus, to specify the phenotype of an 
aphid, you would need the DNA information, plus the environmental 
information from the rest of the colony.

		gareth