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Of course, storing information isn't enough. Books, clay tablets, and pictures all store information but we would hardly call them alive. A living thing also needs to be able to copy the information content that defines itself, generation after generation. This task is harder than it might first seem, especially when it must be accomplished at the molecular level.

Recall that biological information is stored in polymers -- long molecules consisting of chains of different subunits. Here are some of the steps that need to happen in the process of copying such a polymer.

  1. New monomers need to be assembled using the old polymer as a template to guide which monomers are joined in what order. More on that here.

  2. Some amount of error checking is useful. The molecular world is inherently noisy (unless of course you want to be a living thing at absolute zero... but then that's problematic for other reasons). A little bit of noise is helpful: it provides the variety on which evolution is based. But too many mistakes and the information you're passing along begins to degrade to a dangerous point.

  3. The new molecule and the old have to be separated. A non-trivial feat for two long polymer chains -- just think how hard it is to separate out a pair of headphone cords once they've been shaken up together.

  4. The machinery responsible for the upkeep of those information-bearing molecules (the cell itself) has to be made again to maintain the new copy.

  5. All of this needs to be regulated, timed appropriately, stopped and restarted depending on environment conditions.

These processes necessary for replication lie at the heart of molecular and cell biology.

Type a concept, like “slope” or “photosynthesis”.

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