A Defense of Syntax-Based Gene Concepts in Postgenomics: Genes as Modular Subroutines in the Master Genomic Program

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to update and defend syntax-based (conserved DNA-sequence motifs) gene concepts. I show how syntax-based concepts have been and can be extended to accommodate complex cases of genome expression, regulation, and processing. In response to difficult cases and causal parity objections, I argue that the syntax-based approach fleshes out a deflationary concept that defines genes in terms of sequences and organizational features of the genome that contribute to a phenotype.