DOI: 10.1073/pnas.231499798 ISSN:
Degeneracy and complexity in biological systems
Gerald M. Edelman, Joseph A. Gally- Multidisciplinary
Degeneracy, the ability of elements that are structurally different to perform the same function or yield the same output, is a well known characteristic of the genetic code and immune systems. Here, we point out that degeneracy is a ubiquitous biological property and argue that it is a feature of complexity at genetic, cellular, system, and population levels. Furthermore, it is both necessary for, and an inevitable outcome of, natural selection.