Anton Markoš

Semetic rings: towards the new concept of mimetic resemblances

In order to better understand mimicry and similar phenomena, we introduce the concept of seme as means of horizontal (i.e. trans-lineage) transfer of images. Together with horizontal exchange of genes and epigenetic signals, semes complete the triad of powerful channels enabling synchronous communication across the biosphere.

The homolog of chromatin binding protein Bx42 identified in Dictyostelium.

We identified in Dictyostelium a gene snwA containing a region of similarity to SH2 domains of higher eukaryotes. snwA is homologous to a novel human gene SNW1 and to Bx42 from Drosophila melanogaster, a gene coding for a chromatin binding protein responsive to 20-OH-ecdysone. snwA has one mRNA transcript of an approximate size of 2.5 kb.

Language Metaphors of Life

We discuss the difference between formal and natural languages, and argue that should the language metaphor have any foundation, it’s analogy with natural languages that should be taken into account. We discuss how such operation like reading, writing, sign, interpretation, etc., can be applied in the realm of the living and what can be gained, by such an approach, in order to understand the phenomenon of life.

Masterpiece of epigenetic engineering - how Toxoplasma gondii reprogrammes host brains to change fear to sexual attraction.

The protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is known to induce specific behavioural changes in its intermediate hosts, including humans, that are believed to increase the chance of its successful transmission to the definitive host, the cat. The most conspicuous change is the so‐called fatal attraction phenomenon, the switch from the mices and rats’ natural fear of the smell of cats toward an attraction to this smell. The mechanism of this manipulation activity is unknown; however, many indices suggest that changes in the concentrations of dopamine and testosterone are involved. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Hari Dass & Vyas ( ) present results of a study showing that, by hypomethylation of certain regulatory elements of key gene, Toxoplasma is able to reprogramme the brains genetic machinery in such a way that cat odour activates and changes the wiring of the medial amygdala circuits responsible for sexual behaviour. This study delivers the first clear evidence of a parasites ability to use sophisticated epigenetic engineering techniques for the manipulation of the phenotype of its infected host.

Recorded Versus Organic Memory: Interaction of Two Worlds as Demonstrated by the Chromatin Dynamics

The “histone code” conjecture of gene regulation is our point of departure for analyzing the interplay between the (quasi)digital script in nucleic acids and proteins on the one hand and the body on the other, between the recorded and organic memory. We argue that the cell’s ability to encode its states into strings of “characters” dramatically enhances the capacity of encoding its experience (organic memory). Finally, we present our concept of interaction between the natural (bodily) world, and the transcendental realm of the digital codes.

TOWARDS A DARWINIAN BIOSEMIOTICS. LIFE AS MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

Contemporary understanding of the evolution of life prefers the existence of mutually isolated lineages which are indifferent to each other, and are interconnected only through their common descent. We argue that a necessary precondition for biosemiotics is communication between all coevals sharing the biosphere. It will embrace mutual custody of existing communication pathways and codes, and of common evolutionary heritage

Biosphere as semiosphere: Variations on Lotman

The analogy between semiosphere (world of cultures) and biosphere (world of life), coined by J. Lotman, is a courageous attempt to interconnect two seemingly incompatible worlds. In congruence with his view, I would like to convince the reader that the only possible general definition of life is “a system born, endowed with semiosis, with history”. Such a view requires considering biosphere and semiosphere as coextensive, which requires merging the cultural, scientific, historical, and linguistic approaches into a coherent whole.

The Birth and Life of Species–Cultures

Evolution and life phenomena can be understood as results of history, i.e., as outcomes of cohabitation and collective memory of populations of autonomous entities (individuals) across many generations and vast extent of time. Hence, evolution of distinct lineages of life can be considered as isomorphic with that of cultures. I argue here that cultures and culture-like systems – human culture, natural languages, and life forms – always draw from history, memory, experience, internal dynamics, etc., transforming themselves creatively into new patterns, never foreseen before. This is possible thanks to the fact that all forms of life are descendants of life. Ontogeny and speciation in various lineages draw from continuous re-interpretation of conservative genetic/generic “texts”, as well as from changes of the interpretative process itself. The result is continuous appearances of new lineages-cultures and/or communities-cultures, in a semiotic process of re-interpretation and inventing new ways of living. The topic is developed here on the backgrounds of ideas presented by R. A. Rappaport in “Ritual and religion in the making of humanity” and J. Flegr in “Frozen evolution”.

Living as Languaging: Distributed Knowledge in Living Beings

We trace life at different levels of organization and/or description: from protein ecosystems in the cell up to the cohabitation of individuals within and between historically established lineages. Ways of such cohabitation depend on experience of particular guilds or aggregates; they cannot be easily foretold from any basic level of description, they are distributed across all levels, and across all members of the community. Such phenomena of interactivity constitute a lived world which, we argue, represents a genuine analogy with domains of human cultures and languages. We draw an analogy with three levels of meaning as defined by Rappaport (Ritual and religion in the making of humanity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010) and make an attempt to show that life and languaging are virtually analogous.

The Meaning(s) of Information, Code … and Meaning

Meaning is a central concept of (bio)semiotics. At the same time, it is also a word of everyday language. Here, on the example of the world information, we discuss the “reduction-inflation model” of evolution of a common word into a scientific concept, to return subsequently into everyday circulation with new connotations. Such may be, in the near future, also the fate of the word meaning if, flexed through objectified semantics, will become considered an objective concept usable in semiotics. We argue that reducing meaning to a technical term essentially synonymous to code and stripped of most of the original semantic field is not a necessary prerequisite for a meaningful application of the concept in semiotics and in biology.