Davi Weber Architecture in Translation Workshop

Davi Weber HCT - Architecture in Translation Feb. 6, 2015 For discussion: What is the biological definition of “translation” and does it reveal the nuances of “translation” in a broader context?

Papilio dardanus The butterflies discovered in archived drawers in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History outwardly express male and female characteristics, as well as a scientist’s desire for creation, manipulation, and perhaps art. During cell division, it is suspected that through shock he induced the sex chromosomes to irregularly separate, and as a result of the nondisjunction, some cells carried a female genotype while others a male genotype, producing two distinct wings dripping with psychedelic phenotypes. In order for the patterning to occur, translation (a process not unique to the aberrant butterfly, but necessary for all expression) took place early on in the development of proteins, which ultimately directed the outward appearance.

In the biological process of translation, the language is of nucleotides (organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a five-carbon sugar, and at least one phosphate group).

1. Before translation of DNA (of DNA nucleotides), transcription actually occurs.

During transcription, first the bonds of DNA’s base pairs of nucleotides are broken/unzipped and an enzyme reads a particular segment of DNA. It produces a complementary RNA strand (composed of RNA nucleotides rather than DNA nucleotides). Breaking of the RNA-DNA helix frees the RNA sequence where it may remain in the cell’s nucleus (for further processing) or leave into the cytoplasm.

2. Only particular transcribed genes that encode for proteins will actually provide the template for translation to occur (in which proteins are synthesized). Essentially, a ribosome transfers amino acids according to the nucleotide code of the messenger RNA, creating a chain of amino acids. The chain’s order determines the function and ultimately folds in such a way that it turns into an active protein. Proteins may provide structural rigidity, while others aid in the transport of molecules and intracellular communication, or serve as enzyme-catalysts for chemical reactions of biological molecules.

The butterfly’s gynandromorphy condition and bilateral asymmetry resulted from the same process of translation that produced the typical wings of other butterflies.

Unlike the translation discussed in the seminar, it lacks a degree of interpretation; of course, there is no cognitive intervention. While changes may occur in DNA sequences during various divisions, in general when replicating DNA, proofreading mechanisms ensure fidelity even to a greater extent than during transcription.

However, without altering DNA, repressors may silence genes and contribute to a degree of “subjectivity” and alteration of physiological traits. Environmental factors such as heat, light, infection may in fact change expression (mistranslation). Gene regulation controls timing, location, and amount of expression but the process of translation itself limits the possibility of variation to a great extent.

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Adhering to other requirements of translation in the broad sense, a boarder is crossed and transformation occurs. During cellular translation, a different medium is introduced as a three-nucleotide-long combination signals the appearance of one of twenty amino acids in the production of proteins. Despite certain similarities in usage, perhaps a divergence exists in the application of the word “translation”. In biology, typically translation of the recodified RNA still insists upon equivalence, in opposition to the conveyance of interpretation widely accepted with other uses of “translation”. Is “translation” an appropriated word or is “translation” translated in the truest sense because something (the notion of interpretation itself) has been introduced?

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