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What Does It Mean to Be 75% Pumpkin? The Units of Comparative Genomics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Monika Piotrowska
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Abstract

Comparative genomicists seem to be convinced that the unit of measurement employed in their studies is a gene that drives the function of cells and ultimately organisms. As a result, they have come to some substantive conclusions about how similar humans are to other organisms based on the percentage of genetic makeup they share. I argue that the actual unit of measurement employed in the studies corresponds to a structural rather than a functional gene concept, thus rendering many of the implications drawn from comparative genomic studies largely unwarranted, if not completely mistaken.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 76 , Issue 5 , December 2009 , pp. 838 - 850
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Special thanks to Steve Downes for valuable comments, criticism, and encouragement. I am also grateful to Bryan Benham, Matt Haber, Anya Plutynski, and Jim Tabery for helpful feedback, and most of all to Matt Mosdell, whose healthy skepticism of statistics inspired me to write this article. Earlier versions of this work were presented at ISHPSSB 2007 in Exeter and PSA 2008 in Pittsburgh. Conversations with various audience members helped clarify my ideas on the topic.

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