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Nature 420, 211-217 (14 November 2002) | doi:10.1038/nature01255
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Molecular Biologist (Positions Open in Bacteria, Fungal and Yeast Streams)
- Praj Matrix - Praj Industries Ltd
- Pune, Maharashtra Pune-411021 India
Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunology
- The Scripps Research Institute
- N Torrey Pines Rd, San Diego, CA, USA
review article The language of genes
David B. Searls
Abstract
Linguistic metaphors have been woven into the fabric of molecular biology since its inception. The determination of the human genome sequence has brought these metaphors to the forefront of the popular imagination, with the natural extension of the notion of DNA as language to that of the genome as the 'book of life'. But do these analogies go deeper and, if so, can the methods developed for analysing languages be applied to molecular biology? In fact, many techniques used in bioinformatics, even if developed independently, may be seen to be grounded in linguistics. Further interweaving of these fields will be instrumental in extending our understanding of the language of life.
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