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## Five Principles of Biological Information The discussion in this chapter reinforces or introduces five principles: ### Principle 1: - Nucleic acids are both repositories and functional expressions of biological information. - Biological information is one of the required conditions for life. -...

## Five Principles of Biological Information The discussion in this chapter reinforces or introduces five principles: ### Principle 1: - Nucleic acids are both repositories and functional expressions of biological information. - Biological information is one of the required conditions for life. - Biological information is a blueprint for each species and is transmitted from one generation to the next. - RNA can be a functional expression of that information, directing the synthesis of proteins or in some cases acting directly as a signal or a reaction catalyst. ### Principle 2: - The transmission of biological information relies on molecular complementarity. - Chromosomes are the largest molecules in any cell. - Chromosomes are polymers composed of a small set of common nucleotides, with information embedded in the nucleotide sequence. - The common nucleotides in RNA and DNA are organized so that two strands of nucleic acid can maintain a complementary and uniform structure over vast molecular distances. - This extended potential for both variable sequence and complementarity, and thus information storage and transmission, is a property shared by no other class of biological molecule. ### Principle 3: - Biological information is subject to natural damage and change. - DNA damage is a constant, and it results in occasional mutation - the raw material for evolution. ### Principle 4: - Biological information can be accessed, interpreted, and altered in the laboratory. - The information embedded in