Cognitive Science 170
Natural and Artificial Symbol-Using Systems
Name: _________________________
SHORT PAPER #2:
Question: (3-5 pages). Hand in a printout on real paper.
- 1. Imagine that one base pair in the protein-coding part of the
DNA sequence (not an intron, a promoter, or an enhancer) of a cell has
been changed into a different base pair. Trace the effects of this
change into the metabolic network of the cell in the following way:
briefly describe how the changed base pair might effect transcription
and translation (the molecular biological senses of these words),
and then protein folding and function.
You must outline all the major stages by which a one-dimensional sequence
of DNA symbol segments (bases) is transformed into a metabolic network of
chemical reactions controlled by proteins and tell me a little bit about
how and why proteins fold and function. Since you cannot possibly
summarize all of modern molecular biology in 3 to 5 pages, and since I
have not told you which gene was damaged, concentrate on the architecture
of molecular information transfer and interpretation as
you describe the major stages and parts and forces that are involved in
each one.
due by Wed, 3/2/04