The Exploit: A Theory of Networks - asounder

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pro cesses include gene expression (how a network of genes is switched
on and off to produce proteins), cellular metabolism (how the components
of enzymes and organelles transform “food” molecules into
energy), and membrane signaling (the lock - and - key specificity of
bringing molecules through a cell membrane). Together such pro -
cesses are generally responsible for maintaining the living eukaryotic
cell. And while it would be reductive to say that DNA “causes” each
process, there is an implicit understanding in molecular biology of
the central role that DNA—as genetic information—plays in each
process.
Base pair complementarity not only implies an informatic approach to
studying life but also implies a notion of biological control (gene expression,
cellular metabolism, membrane signaling).
Indeed, this basic principle of base pair complementarity not only
lies at the root of many “natural” processes in the cell but also drives
many of the techniques and technologies that have become associated
with biotechnology. In the early 1970s, when the first genetic
engineering experiments were carried out on bacteria, it was base
pair complementarity that enabled researchers to “cut” and “paste”
segments of DNA in a precise manner, paving the way for recombinant
DNA, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), transgenic animals,
and the first biotech company (Genentech). In the early 1980s,
when researchers at the Cetus Corporation developed a technology
for rapidly copying large amounts of desired DNA segments (polymerase
chain reaction, or PCR), base pair complementarity again
served as the basic mechanism. And in the mid - 1990s, when the first
oligonucleotide microarrays (or “DNA chips”) were marketed by companies
such as Affymetrix, base pair complementarity formed the
basis of the DNA - silicon hybrid chips. All these techniques are currently
part and parcel of biotechnology as a set of practices, supplemented
recently by the nascent field of “bioinformatics.”
As an informatic principle, as a concept concerning “informed matters,”
base pair complementarity can operate across different material substrates,