You have probably heard computer analogies used to explain how DNA works. Computers have properties that are fixed by precise programming and hardware.
In these analogies, DNA is characterised as a set of complex instructions which are transcribed into proteins which in turn perform physiological functions that are specified by the genetic sequences stored in the DNA. Thus the public have come to think of DNA as a set of instructions or a static blueprint which initiates actions rather like a coded computer programme. As a result, the idea that editing this blueprint can be a straightforward, safe, technological process has entered the public psyche. Accumulating research findings are suggesting this idea is outdated, misleading and fraught with risk.
An article was published by Quanta Magazine on June 18 entitled “Why the Human Genome’s Tangled Physicality May Confound AI”. In our article today we are going to unpack the implications and draw a fresh analogy to aid our understanding.
Dr. Wendy Bickmore is a genomic researcher at the University of Edinburgh and former president of the Genetics Society. She has been investigating how DNA sequences are folded into chromosomes. In each cell, humans have about 2 metres of DNA but the width of a cell is at least 10,000 times smaller than the width of your forefinger. The cell nucleus containing the DNA is 10 times smaller again. It turns out that the way our DNA is folded into this nanoscopic nuclear space modifies how it functions. Bickmore has found that it is not just the information encoded in the DNA that determines how DNA functions but also how it exists physically and dynamically in space-time.
“We’ve stopped thinking about the genome as a linear piece of DNA code,” Bickmore said. “Thinking about this incredibly dynamic three-dimensional folding as absolutely inherent to regulation is a very exciting change.”
When DNA is folded to fit into the nucleus, with the help of some proteins called histones, it is known as Chromatin. Chromatin is organised into compartments which have a 3D topological structure which regulates genes into groups which function together and can be turned off and on. Cohesin is a circular protein which shuffles chromatin into groups, but this is not a static arrangement, a dynamic process involving cohesin constantly rearranges chromatin in and between groups affecting the expression and function of DNA.
Shape is not the only factor at play, small epigenetic (literally from outside the genome) marker molecules alter configurations of electrical charge which rejigs how chromatin is packaged which in turn changes the meaning and function of the DNA script. How and when these markers get added or changed remains a mystery, but clearly the DNA sequences are not stand alone strands of information.
When DNA is transcripted it forms mRNA (a messenger molecule), once this happens, there is still a great deal of regulation which occurs. This is carried out by microRNAs and spliceosomes which function in groups and undertake multiple roles including modifying, splicing, reorganising, editing, degrading and/or silencing mRNA. MicroRNA and spliceosomes are on the spot to decide if the mRNA is really needed to carry out a function in the context of what is going on and needed in real time. In other words, there are adaptive and responsive processes which naturally edit the instructions of the DNA.
These regulatory processes occur in the mechanical, vibratory, chemical, electromagnetic and aqueous environment of the cell which each play a vital role. Moreover these are hugely influenced by diet, environment, microbiome, behaviours, environment and crucially consciousness. All told, these processes show that the genome is not an automatic process like a computer code running in the background to keep us alive, growing and healthy. Cells are making autonomous decisions about how to use and modify not just the information in the DNA but also the shape and structure it assumes and crucially factors that lie outside of the genome.
American computer scientist Douglas Hofstadter has described the genomic system as a recursive, self-referential system—it acts on itself, mindful of its own history. The information system that guides cells is spread out further and further from the DNA itself. Moreover, it is not strictly an information system, it is a decision-making system. It does not predictably generate the same outcome in every situation. It can think for itself. At this point it is clear that the cellular system does not work like a computer system. The Quanta article concludes that closed algorithm AI systems will not be able to reproduce the intelligence that guides the cell which operates under an open self-referral system. There is no human technology that works in this way except the whole human physiology itself. As Harvard geneticist Karen Adelman summarised the new understanding: “the genome isn’t static, it’s living.”
It has proved impossible for geneticists to pinpoint any one system, set of rules, place or sequence which governs life. The cellular genomic system takes decisions in an abstract space extended over space and time. This is the hallmark of consciousness. The fact that our consciousness can instantly feel a pinprick at any point in the body demonstrates that it too exists in an extended abstract space. You cannot pinpoint consciousness to a space.
So what is the new analogy for the genome? We don’t have to look very far from home. A government is bound by a constitution and time honoured practice, but itself constantly creates new laws. It has departments which often function autonomously over an extended space and time. It responds to its population just as the genomic system responds to the vast physiological organisation of organ systems, perceptions, behaviours, foods, environment, etc. and crucially states of consciousness. Every government functions under a head of state, the head of state of the genome is not just individual consciousness but above that universal consciousness—the home of all the laws of nature, as we have discussed in our recent Substack articles The Sacred Cell and Conscious Genes and The Structure of Consciousness and our Hatchard Report article “The Hand of God: A philosophical, spiritual and scientific critique of the direction of biotechnology research”.
This article is not just a review of the findings of recent biological research, but it is also a warning that we need to update our understanding of life and control unfettered biotechnology experimentation on the genome and the food chain. A study published on 22 June in Nature Medicine is entitled “Biological aging and generational shifts in early-onset cancer risk”. It reports a study of 154,000 young adults in the UK which found that their cells are ageing faster than those of their parents’ generation, exposing them to increased risk of cancer.
This shows that the stability and adaptability of our extended genomic and immune system is coming under increased stress for multiple reasons. We live in an extended biofield. This ranges from food systems to environmental and cultural influences. We have entered a period of rapid change, novel technology is changing every level of our existence from the microscopic world of genetic systems to the macroscopic biosphere and everything in between. This has proved to be an assault on the foundation of life. Most at risk is the health of the growing generation who readily adopt new norms of food and behaviour which exposes them to a polluted environment, including the electromagnetic, chemical, social and intellectual environments. It is our responsibility to educate the next generation, the future leaders of society, to understand the dangers of structural changes to naturally ordered systems. Biotechnology and genetic engineering can’t be our future. Education systems should range from natural unadulterated food options to lifestyle options to cleaner environments and the self-management of choice. This is our best defence.
Guy Hatchard PhD was formerly a senior manager at Genetic ID a global food testing and safety company (now known as FoodChain ID). You can visit his website hatchardreport.com or subscribe to his Substack.
He is the author of ‘Your DNA Diet: Leveraging the Power of Consciousness To Heal Ourselves and Our World. An Ayurvedic Blueprint For Health and Wellness’.
