Crossref journal-article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (341)
Abstract

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.

Bibliography

Edelman, G. M., & Gally, J. A. (2001). Degeneracy and complexity in biological systems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(24), 13763–13768.

Authors 2
  1. Gerald M. Edelman (first)
  2. Joseph A. Gally (additional)
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Dates
Type When
Created 23 years, 1 month ago (July 26, 2002, 10:35 a.m.)
Deposited 3 years, 4 months ago (April 13, 2022, 9:05 a.m.)
Indexed 1 day ago (Sept. 2, 2025, 6:35 a.m.)
Issued 23 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 6, 2001)
Published 23 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 6, 2001)
Published Online 23 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 6, 2001)
Published Print 23 years, 9 months ago (Nov. 20, 2001)
Funders 0

None

@article{Edelman_2001, title={Degeneracy and complexity in biological systems}, volume={98}, ISSN={1091-6490}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.231499798}, DOI={10.1073/pnas.231499798}, number={24}, journal={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, publisher={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, author={Edelman, Gerald M. and Gally, Joseph A.}, year={2001}, month=nov, pages={13763–13768} }