Guenther Witzany

Telos - Philosophische Praxis

Epigenetics in Biological Communication is the first book that integrates Development, Signaling, Context, Genetics and Evolution. Every cell, tissue, organ and organism is competent to use signals to exchange information reaching common coordinations and organisations of both single cell and group behavior. These signal-mediated interactions we te...

The metamorphosis from larvae to adult butterflies has represented the “mystery” of life since the ancient Greeks. How could we explain the various steps of development from caterpillars to the most beautiful butterflies? A mystery prevalent in the twentieth century concerned the storage of the complete genetic information of an organism in the DNA...

Two starting points of this dialogue, which is really unique in the history of science, are the basic knowledge on language and communication from an action theoretical perspective and on the other point, basic knowledge of virology and all the detailed interactional motifs of viruses on RNA networks, subviral agents and cellular organisms that con...

Viral infections are key players in the evolution of all cellular organisms in general and mammals in particular. Endogenous retroviruses in particular have played a crucial role in the evolution of the placenta, and they are also responsible for the loss of odor, especially in humans. As we shall see, the latter provides a means to understand the...

The quasispecies theory is a helpful concept in the explanation of RNA virus evolution and behaviour, with a relevant impact on methods used to fight viral diseases. It has undergone some adaptations to integrate new empirical data, especially the non-deterministic nature of mutagenesis, and the variety of behavioural motifs in cooperation, competi...

The 2022 symposium “How Evolution Learnt to Learn – Epigenetics of Experienced Context” included 50 experts to discuss epigenetic marking and its regulatory impact on transgenerational inheritance, cell fate and identity, morphology, physiology, genetic instructions, neuroepigenetic reprogramming, memory and learning, physical and mental disease, i...

Our understanding of the key players in evolution and of the development of all organisms in all domains of life has been aided by current knowledge about RNA stem-loop groups, their proposed interaction motifs in an early RNA world and their regulative roles in all steps and substeps of nearly all cellular processes, such as replication, transcrip...

For nearly a century the main focus in biological disciplines such as molecular biol- ogy, biochemistry, genetics and evolutionary theory was cellular life as a machine like process in which mechanistic pathways regulate metab- olism, genetic reading and translation into pro- teins and evolution by variations (random error replications) and selecti...

Thure von Uexküll introduced me into the biosemiotic research community in the early 1990s. Later on Kalevi Kull offered a publication opportunity to me, that helped me to leave a disunited biosemiotic community and develop a theoretical direction that helps to understand biology as a social science.

The emergence of cooperative quasi-species consortia (QS-C) thinking from the more accepted quasispecies equations of Manfred Eigen, provides a conceptual foundation from which concerted action of RNA agents can now be understood. As group membership becomes a basic criteria for the emergence of living systems, we also start to understand why the h...

Current research on the origin of DNA and RNA, viruses, and mobile genetic elements prompts a re-evaluation of the origin and nature of genetic material as the driving force behind evolutionary novelty. While scholars used to think that novel features resulted from random genetic mutations of an individual’s specific genome, today we recognize the...

Denis Nobel looks at four important misinterpretations of molecular biology concerning evolutionary processes and demonstrates that the new synthesis today looks rather outdated. The modern synthesis is nearly 80 years old. The proponents who worked out the modern synthesis had no access to the current knowledge on cell biology, genetics, epigeneti...

The role of viruses in the evolution of life has traditionally been seen to result from a predator/prey virus/host relationship in which viruses are selfish toxic replicators. Viral information found in host DNA was historically considered as mostly defective junk. Viral persistence or symbiosis is seldom considered, although these are exceedingly...

The crucial difference of quasispecies consortia with former quasispecies-concepts (fittest type – mutant spectra) is the basically consortial organisation of functional RNA ensembles.

The Table show the differences between molecular biological descriptions and the biocommunication approach

how RNA social networks and viruses shape the tree of life

Viruses and related infectious genetic parasites are the most abundant biological agents on this planet. They invade all cellular organisms, are key agents in the generation of adaptive and innate immune systems , and drive nearly all regulatory processes within living cells.

Is there any reason, to believe a modern natural philosophy makes sense? The history of natural philosophy is marked by the search for principles that determine all beings independently whether they are abiotic matter or living organisms. Empirical data on the key features of life contradict even the possibility to find such principles because life...

Viruses and related infectious genetic parasites are the most abundant biological agents on this planet. They invade all cellular organisms, are key agents in the generation of adaptive and innate immune systems, and drive nearly all regulatory processes within living cells.

Phages have serious effects on global energy and nutrient cycles. Phages actively compete for host. They can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’ (complement same, preclude others). They process and evaluate available information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. These diverse competences show us that this capacity to evaluate infor...

This is the first book to systemize all levels of communicative behavior of phages. Phages represent the most diverse inhabitants on this planet. Until today they are completely underestimated in their number, skills and competences and still remain the dark matter of biology. Phages have serious effects on global energy and nutrient cycles. Phages...

In searching for life in extraterrestrial space, it is essential to act based on an unequivocal definition of life. In the twentieth century, life was defined as cells that self-replicate, metabolize, and are open for mutations, without which genetic information would remain unchangeable, and evolution would be impossible. Current definitions of li...

Darwinian evolutionary theory has two key terms, variations and biological selection, which finally lead to survival of the fittest variant. With the rise of molecular genetics, variations were explained as results of error replications out of the genetic master templates. For more than half a century, it has been accepted that new genetic informat...

This is the first book to systemize all levels of communicative behavior of phages. Phages represent the most diverse inhabitants on this planet. Until today they are completely underestimated in their number, skills and competences and still remain the dark matter of biology. Phages have serious effects on global energy and nutrient cycles. Phag...

What is Life?

All the conserved detailed results of evolution stored in DNA must be read, transcribed, and translated via an RNA‐mediated process. This is required for the development and growth of each individual cell. Thus, all known living organisms fundamentally depend on these RNA‐mediated processes. In most cases, they are interconnected with other RNAs an...

The 2018 symposium entitled “EVOLUTION—Genetic Novelty/Genomic Variations by RNA-Networks and Viruses” followed on “Natural Genetic Engineering and Natural Genome Editing” in 2008 (Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. Vol. 1178) and “DNA Habitats and Its RNA Inhabitants” in 2014 (Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. Vol. 1341). All three symposia were organized by philosopher Gue...

What does „communication“ mean in the context of life? This article will clarify that physical and chemical investigations of living organisms assemble important attributes, but if we remove communication from all interactions of living organisms, nothing would remain as living. This contribution will outline that life results out of three compleme...

That's Life!

A New Concept of Life will lead to a New Theory of Evolution

A new paradigmatic understanding of evolution, genetic novelty, code-generating, genome-formatting factors, infectious RNA Networks, viruses and other natural genetic content operators

This book assembles recent research on memory and learning in plants. Organisms that share a capability to store information about experiences in the past have an actively generated background resource on which they can compare and evaluate coming experiences in order to react faster or even better. This is an essential tool for all adaptation purp...

Organisms that share the capability of storing information about experiences in the past have an actively generated background resource on which they can compare and evaluate more recent experiences in order to quickly or even better react than in previous situations. This is an essential competence for all reaction and adaptation purposes of livin...

Biocommunication and Natural Genome Editing

Archaea represent a third domain of life with unique properties not found in the other domains. Archaea actively compete for environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’. They process and evaluate available information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. They assess their surroundings,...

Archaea assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals and then realize the optimum variant. They take measures to control certain environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between self and non-self. They process and evaluate information and then modify their behavior accordingly. Thes...

Archaea represent a third domain of life with unique properties not found in the other domains. Archaea actively compete for environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between 'self' and 'non-self'. They process and evaluate available information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. They assess their surroundings,...

Archaea represent a third domain of life with unique properties not found in the other domains. Archaea actively compete for environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’. They process and evaluate available information and then modify their behaviour accordingly. They assess their surroundings,...

Conventional methods of genetic engineering and more recent genome editing techniques focus on identifying genetic target sequences for manipulation. This is a result of historical concept of the gene which was also the main assumption of the ENCODE project designed to identify all functional elements in the human genome sequence. However, the theo...

Current knowledge of the RNA world indicates 2 different genetic codes being present throughout the living world. In contrast to non-coding RNAs that are built of repetitive nucleotide syntax, the sequences that serve as templates for proteins share—as main characteristics—a non-repetitive syntax. Whereas non-coding RNAs build groups that serve as...

Organisms actively compete for environmental resources. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals, and then realize the optimum variant. They take measures to control certain environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguish between " self " and " non-self. " Current empirical data o...

Similarly to other organisms of all domains of life from bacteria to complex animals ciliates are sensitive organisms that assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals and then realize the optimum variant. They take measures to control certain environmental resources. They perceive themselves and can distinguis...

This is the first coherent description of all levels of communication of ciliates. Ciliates are highly sensitive organisms that actively compete for environmental resources. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals, and then realise the optimum variant. They take measures to control certain environment...

Although molecular biology, genetics, and related special disciplines represent a large amount of empirical data, a practical method for the evaluation and overview of current knowledge is far from being realized. The main concepts and narratives in these fields have remained nearly the same for decades and the more recent empirical data concerning...

A comment on “No time to waste—the ethical challenges created by CRISPR”.

In a recent forum article, Dan Needleman and Jan Brugues argue that,despite the astonishing advances in cell biology, a fundamental understanding of even the most well-studied subcellular biological processes is lacking. This lack of understanding is evidenced by our inability to make precise predictions of subcellular and cellular behaviors. They...

Mainstream in molecular biology derives from physical chemical assumptions about the genetic code that are basically more than 40 years old. Recent empirical data on genetic code compositions and (re)arrangements by mobile genetic elements and noncoding RNAs, together with results of virus research and their role in evolution, does not really fit i...

In the early 1970s, Manfred Eigen and colleagues developed the quasispecies model (qs) for the population-based origin of RNAs representing the early genetic code. The Eigen idea is basically that a halo of mutants is generated by error-prone replication around the master fittest type which will behave similarly as a biological population. But almo...

IntroductionBy ‘philosophy of consciousness’ we mean an assembly of different approaches such as philosophy of mind (mind-body problems, natural mind vs. artificial mind), perception, rational conclusions, information processing and contradictory conceptions such as holistic ‘all is mind’ perspectives and their atomistic counterparts.Since ancient...

The shifting perspective from a read-only-memory genome with copying errors to a readand-write genome with competent change operators is fundamental: For decades it was assumed that driving force of evolution is mutation (error) and selection. Now it is recognized that errors cannot explain genetic novelty and complexity. A variety of RNA based age...

Manfred Eigen extended Erwin Schroedinger's concept of "life is physics and chemistry" through the introduction of information theory and cybernetic systems theory into "life is physics and chemistry and information." Based on this assumption, Eigen developed the concepts of quasispecies and hypercycles, which have been dominant in molecular biolog...

Biological organisation was long assumed to represent mechanical cause and effect reactions on a quantum theoretical basis following the laws of thermodynamics. Current empirical data show an abundance of signaling molecules that serve as information carriers in the exchange of information between biological agents. More recently an abundance of ar...

doi:10.3390/life4040800 Abstract: RNA sociology investigates the behavioral motifs of RNA consortia from the social science perspective. Besides the self-folding of RNAs into single stem loop structures, group building of such stem loops results in a variety of essential agents that are highly active in regulatory processes in cellular and non-cell...

As in all organisms, the evolution, development and growth of plants depends on the success of complex communication processes. These communication processes are primarily sign mediated interactions and not simply an exchange of information. They involve active coordination and active organization—conveyed by signs. A wide range of chemical substan...

Erwin Schrödinger‘s question “What is life?” received the answer for decades of “physics + chemistry”. The concepts of Alain Turing and John von Neumann introduced a third term: “information”. This led to the understanding of nucleic acid sequences as a natural code. Manfred Eigen adapted the concept of Hammings “sequence space”. Similar to Hilbert...

Tropical coral reefs harbour some of the most diverse biological communities on our planet and as such rival tropical forests communities in species diversity and number of individuals from all domains. The cooperative interplay of prokaryotes, eukaryotes – particularly – the interactions among plantae and animalia shape this delicate balance, whic...

In his recent interview for the Guardian Craig Venter is elaborating about a household appliance for the future, Digital Biological Converter (DBC). Current prototype, which can produce DNA, is a box attached to the computer which receives DNA sequences over the internet to synthesize DNA; later in future also viruses, proteins, and living cells. T...

Natural Codes do not code themselves

Current knowledge indicates communicative interactions within and between organisms in all domains, i.e. bacteria, protozoa, animals, fungi and plants as essential. Communicative interactions are necessary within organisms - intraorganismic - to coordinate cell-cell interactions, similar to tissues and organs especially in complex bodies. Interorga...

Tropical coral reefs harbour some of the most diverse biological communities on our planet and as such rival tropical forests communities in species diversity and number of individuals from all domains. The cooperative interplay of prokaryotes, eukaryotes – particularly – the interactions among plantae and animalia shape this delicate balance, whic...

Every coordination within or between animals depends on communication processes. Although the signaling molecules, vocal and tactile signs, gestures and its combinations differ throughout all species according their evolutionary origins and variety of adaptation processes, certain levels of biocommunication can be found in all animal species: (a) A...

Bees are important pollinators for plants, which would not be able to produce fruits without them. Since Karl von Frisch's work it has been evident that the highly complex social behaviour of bee swarms is organised and coordinated by sign-mediated interactions, i.e. communication. If communication processes are disturbed this may have fatal conseq...

Recent investigations surprisingly indicate that single RNA "stem-loops" operate solely by chemical laws that act without selective forces, and in contrast, self-ligated consortia of RNA stem-loops operate by biological selection. To understand consortial RNA selection, the concept of single quasi-species and its mutant spectra as drivers of RNA va...

Background: Most molecular biological concepts result out of physical chemical assumptions on the genetic code that are basically more then 40 years old. Recent empirical data on genetic code compositions and rearrangements by mobile genetic elements and non-coding RNAs together with results of virus research and their role in evolution does not re...

Viruses, Mobile Genetic Elements, Viroids, Introns, Ribozymes and other RNAgents

In a recently published article Sydney Brenner argued that the most relevant scientific revolution in biology at his time was the breakthrough of the role of "information" in biology. The fundamental concept that integrates this new biological "information" with matter and energy is the universal Turing machine and von Neumann's self-reproducing ma...

Most molecular biological concepts derive from physical chemical assumptions about the genetic code that are basically more than 40 years old. Additionally, systems biology, another quantitative approach, investigates the sum of interrelations to obtain a more holistic picture of nucleotide sequence order. Recent empirical data on genetic code comp...

Sydney Brenner confuses the mathematical theory of information [...] with information processing by living organisms

Background: Research of the last decades demonstrated that in- tegration of viruses into host genomes is not a rare event but common use. Viral integration into host genome may lead to functional or not-functional viruses within genetic host habitat. An abundance of viral parts, i.e. 'defectives', co-adapt and serve as 'effective' modular tools for...

Persistent Viruses, Defectives and other Genetic Parasites co-operate and compete via mixed consortia, not master copy + quasi-species; - generate, transfer, insert, delete, recombine and regulate coding and non-coding DNA - drive variation (genetic novelty) coherent with syntax (Chargaff Rules), semantics (Function) and pragmatics (Context) of nuc...

In contrast to former opinions, communicative acts are not restricted only to information exchange between a sender and a receiver, but designate a variety of social interactions mediated by signals according to syntactic (combinatorial), pragmatic (context dependent) and semantic (content-specific) rules. On one side, development and growth of fun...

In a recent study, plant microRNAs (miRNAs) have been found in the sera and tissues of various animals including humans. These miRNAs are acquired orally by food intake and can pass through the mammalian gastrointestinal tract into sera and organs. In vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that these plant microRNAs in food can regulate the ex...

Fungi are sessile, highly sensitive organisms that actively compete for environmental resources both above and below the ground. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they need for particular goals, and then realise the optimum variant. They take measures to control certain environmental resources. They perceive themselves and ca...

A renaissance of virus research is taking centre stage in biology. Empirical data from the last decade indicate the important roles of viruses, both in the evolution of all life and as symbionts or co-evolutionary partners of host organisms. There is increasing evidence that all cellular life is colonized by exogenous and/or endogenous viruses in a...