A Conversation with AI about DNA and Life
Yego: OK AI! I don’t know anything about biology, but I have a layman’s idea of how living things come about. I’m going to tell you my story, and you tell me if it makes sense. Deal?
GPT: Deal! Go ahead and tell me your story, and I’ll let you know if it makes sense.
Yego: “Grubs eat grass, rust eats iron, lies devour the soul ! ” Large things are built out of small things; small things are built out of even smaller things. An animal such as a human, is a large thing, and so is the rabbit. The human ass is a small thing, as are the ears of a rabbit. For even smaller things, like the cells that make up a rabbit’s ears and a human’s ass, let’s call them ‘cells.’
GPT: Yes, that makes sense! You’re capturing a fundamental biological principle: living organisms, from large animals like humans and rabbits down to their specific body parts (like a human’s ass or a rabbit’s ears), are all composed of smaller building blocks. When you drill down to an even finer scale, you find cells, the basic structural units of all living things. Cells themselves are made up of even smaller parts (organelles, molecules, atoms), following this “smaller things make up larger things” idea all the way down to the molecular and atomic levels.
Yego: Here is my version of the story of cells. In the beginning there was a little cell. Inside the cell there was a tiny library, which had only one book on its shelf (OK, in the pencil drawing above there seem to be more than one book, – but they contain only blank pages!) and it was a book about how to make a cell. Guarding the library was a tiny librarian. Now and then, upon hearing a voice you and I cannot hear, or maybe when the little librarian felt an itch on his back, he would take the book from the shelf, open it, and copy a few cell-making instructions on a piece of paper. Then he would open the library door and hand the instructions to some obscure, amorphous figure or figures. These figures would then take the piece of paper to the workshop, grab their tools, fetch some materials, like water and other substances, etc., and go to work. Lo and behold, before you know it, a new cell was created! Sometimes they would make just one cell, but usually, they made more – it all depended on what was written on the paper the librarian handed them. Now each of these cells that were produced had its own little library and its own tiny librarian, just like the mother cell that brought them about. In this way, more and more cells were made, until something bigger than a single cell came into being. This bigger thing might look like a human’s ass, or a rabbit’s ears.
Now it so happened that in the book in the tiny library of each cell thus produced, there were also instructions about when cell production should stop, and when a cell should kill itself, along with the book, the library, and the poor little librarian. For example, as soon as the organism that was coming into being had grown four legs, no more cells were produced to grow additional legs, and as soon as the rabbit got its two front rabbit teeth, no more cells would be made to put down more teeth in that creature’s mouth. End of story. What do you think, AI guy?
GPT: I think your story is quite imaginative and captures some fundamental concepts of cellular biology in a way that’s accessible to a layperson. Let’s go step by step to see how it aligns with biological principles:
1. The Little Cell and the Library:
This idea represents a single cell containing a nucleus, where DNA is stored. The “library” is an excellent metaphor for the nucleus, and the “book” represents the DNA, which contains the instructions for making proteins and other cellular components. So far, this makes sense!
2. The Little Librarian and the Itch:
The “librarian” seems to represent various proteins and enzymes involved in transcription (the process of copying DNA into RNA). The “voice” or “itch” could symbolize signaling mechanisms or stimuli that trigger gene expression. For example, environmental signals or internal cellular signals can cause certain genes to be expressed or suppressed. This is a creative way to describe regulatory mechanisms. So, this part also makes sense!
3. Copying Instructions and Handing Them Over:
When the librarian (enzymes like RNA polymerase) copies the instructions, it’s akin to the transcription process, where a segment of DNA is copied into messenger RNA (mRNA). The mRNA then leaves the nucleus and is “handed over” to ribosomes in the cell’s cytoplasm, which function as the “workshop.” This workshop builds proteins based on the RNA instructions. This part is quite accurate as well.
4. Production of New Cells:
The idea that these instructions lead to the creation of new cells is consistent with how cells divide and proliferate. Cells replicate their DNA and then divide through a process called mitosis. It’s true that all new cells contain their own “libraries” (nuclei with DNA), “librarians” (transcription machinery), and so on. This is a good explanation of cellular replication.
5. Instructions About When to Stop and Self-Destruct:
This part refers to programmed cell death, known as apoptosis, which is crucial for development and maintaining healthy tissue. Your description of cells stopping production after achieving a certain structure (like four legs or canine teeth) is a simplified but essentially correct explanation of how genes regulate development. Specific genes control the timing, location, and amount of cell growth, and they signal when cells should die if they’re no longer needed or if they’re damaged.
Overall, your story is a creative and reasonably accurate representation of how cells work, develop, and regulate themselves! It captures the essential processes like transcription, translation, cell division, and apoptosis in an imaginative way. Well done!
Yego: Wait, I have one more detail to add to the story! Is it correct to say (metaphorically), that when a bit of code is copied from DNA (the book) by the RNA (the little librarian), and the latter hands it to the builders to construct something, the builders perform two types of tasks: 1) they go and grab some water and other substance, mix them, and serve the mixture to customers who need it for various reasons; 2) They gather a pile of jigsaw shaped pieces and start piecing together those that fit, discarding those that don’t?
GPT: Yes, that metaphor is quite apt and nicely captures two primary functions of cellular processes after RNA carries out the instructions. Here’s how each task aligns with biological mechanisms:
1. Grabbing Water and Substances, Mixing, and Serving:
This task metaphorically represents the role of enzymes and cellular processes that facilitate chemical reactions, often involving the combination of water with other substances. Water is crucial in many biological reactions as a solvent and participant. Enzymes mix and break down molecules, preparing nutrients or building blocks that other parts of the cell can use for energy, repair, or other functions. This aligns well with how cells produce and manage substances essential for cellular maintenance and other activities.
2. Assembling Jigsaw-Shaped Pieces:
This is a great analogy for protein synthesis and molecular assembly in cells. Proteins themselves are made of amino acids, which fit together like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Ribosomes (the “builders”) read the RNA’s instructions and piece together amino acids into chains, which then fold into specific shapes based on their sequence. The folding process discards configurations that don’t “fit” into the necessary functional shape, ensuring only correctly folded proteins are produced. Additionally, this idea also extends to other cell functions, like assembling membrane components or structural molecules.
In short, your metaphor elegantly illustrates how cells mix chemicals and assemble complex molecules, prioritizing only the pieces that “fit” the function or need. It’s an effective way to grasp these complex biological tasks!
Yego: Biology sounds fun, and I love cells! But I do feel guilty for all the books and librarians I’ve consumed over the years! That’s a lot of book-burning—and librarian casualties! Even if I repent my past sins and start to eat nothing but veggies, I’ll still be eating tiny books and puny librarians.
“Yego, spare us, please!” said my sister, rising up. “Father is in an awful state, and I am ill. I shall go mad. What will become of you?” she asked, sobbing and holding out her hands to me. “I ask you, I implore you, in the name of our dear mother, to go back to eating plastics!”
Yego’s Chronicles 