本文重点介绍了生物密码对进化过程和动态的潜在贡献。有机代码的概念,由MarcelloBarbieri开发,从根本上改变了我们对生命系统如何运作的看法。分子相互作用建立在适配器上的概念,这些适配器任意地连接来自不同“世界”的分子,即,基于规则的方式,大大偏离了通过物理和化学机制对活跃事物的基于法律的约束。换句话说,生物和非生物的行为就像规则和法律,分别,但是这个重要的区别在当前的进化论中很少被考虑。许多已知的代码允许量化与细胞相关的代码,或不同生物系统之间的比较,可能为代码生物学的定量和实证研究议程铺平道路。这种努力的起点是引入结构和监管代码的简单二分法分类。这种分类可以用作分析和量化生活世界的关键组织原则的工具。例如模块化,层次结构,和鲁棒性,基于有机代码。进化研究的意义与代码的独特动力学有关,或“自我动力”(自我动量)以及它们如何从内部确定生物系统的行为,而物理约束主要来自外部。根据代码对宏观进化的驱动因素进行了推测,得出的结论是,对进化的有意义和全面的理解取决于将代码纳入生命方程。
This article highlights the potential contribution of biological codes to the course and dynamics of evolution. The concept of organic codes, developed by Marcello Barbieri, has fundamentally changed our view of how living systems function. The notion that molecular interactions built on adaptors that arbitrarily link molecules from different \"worlds\" in a conventional, i.e., rule-based way, departs significantly from the law-based constraints imposed on livening things by physical and chemical mechanisms. In other words, living entities and non-living things behave like rules and laws, respectively, but this important distinction is rarely considered in current evolutionary theory. The many known codes allow quantification of codes that relate to a cell, or comparisons between different biological systems and may pave the way to a quantitative and empirical research agenda in code biology. A starting point for such an endeavour is the introduction of a simple dichotomous classification of structural and regulatory codes. This classification can be used as a tool to analyse and quantify key organising principles of the living world, such as modularity, hierarchy, and robustness, based on organic codes. The implications for evolutionary research are related to the unique dynamics of codes, or \'Eigendynamics\' (self-momentum) and how they determine the behaviour of biological systems from inside, whereas physical constraints are imposed mainly from outside. A speculation on the drivers of macroevolution in light of codes is followed by the conclusion that a meaningful and comprehensive understanding of evolution depends on including codes into the equation of life.