• RuBisCO@slrpnk.net
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    1 day ago

    I think what they are trying to say here is DNA can code for mRNA (which is then translated into polypeptides) or it can code for regulation (transcription start sites, inhibitor binding sites, etc).

    There’s more to it than just those two, but you get the idea, right?

    • Jarix@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Honestly, i can’t follow, i didn’t have enough of an education in biology to understand what’s happening. Not unusual for me barely graduating highschool 25 years ago with no biology class, but i like to try and follow technical things even when i know they are or might be beyond my comprehension. Articles online are just getting filled with more actual errors in writing that it’s getting harder to tell when there’s a problem with the word out im not understanding(welcome to aging as an uneducated middle ager everyone!)

      I was never the worst at English though, and it seems like they said the same thing but used the word But when they started to say it the second time.

      “Codons can make proteins. But codons can make proteins” is horribly reduced but essentially how i read it

      Appreciate you taking the the to respond

      • RuBisCO@slrpnk.net
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        1 day ago

        Does this help?

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wAwLwJAGHs
        Khan Academy - Transcription, Translation, Protein Synthesis (11min)

        I agree, the article could be written more clearly. Every time I read “DNA letters” I winced.

        This part is what stuck with me:

        The team also asked Evo to generate a DNA sequence similar in length to some bacterial genomes and compared the results to natural genomes. The designer genome contained some essential genes for cell survival, but with myriad unnatural characteristics preventing it from being functional. This suggests the AI can only make a “blurry image” of a genome, one that contains key elements, but lacks finer-grained details, wrote the team. Like other LLMs, Evo sometimes “hallucinates,” spewing CRISPR systems with no chance of working.

        • Jarix@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Yes but not in relation to my question. It did help me understand the article and the subject more than i was able to before, though i will not claim comprehension of it all.

          Though i did re read the article and i did find what i twigged.

          A difference between codons becoming proteins themselves, and codons causing something else to make proteins. I was just dumb and didn’t read good. But you helped me figure it out by engaging me and trying to figure out how to use what you provided in all of this so…

          After all i guess you did help me get to where i was trying to get to. But we learn if we try and I’ve learned something so thanks again kind stranger!