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Genes Are So Passé

Nov 29, 2007

What is a "gene?" asks Bora Zivkovic. It used to be a unit of heredity, but is it now a stretch of DNA? Or something else? A new, philosophical article in PLoS One by Evelyn Fox Keller and David Harel delves into the definition of a gene and comes up with an alternative to the concept and word of "gene." They propose "genetic functor" or "genitor" that "is intended to capture the essence of inheritance, but which is both richer and more expressive," they write.

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