Conceptual and Empirical Challenges of Ascribing Functions to Transposable Elements
@article{Elliott2014ConceptualAE, title={Conceptual and Empirical Challenges of Ascribing Functions to Transposable Elements}, author={Tyler A. Elliott and Stefan Linquist and T. Ryan Gregory}, journal={The American Naturalist}, year={2014}, volume={184}, pages={14 - 24} }
Media attention and the subsequent scientific backlash engendered by the claim by spokespeople for the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project that 80% of the human genome has a biochemical function highlight the need for a clearer understanding of function concepts in biology. This article provides an overview of two major function concepts that have been developed in the philosophy of science—the causal role concept and the selected effects concept—and their relevance to ENCODE. Unlike…
24 Citations
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