Deriving genetic codes for molecular phenotypes from first principles.

ABSTRACT: The genetic code is a formal principle that determines which proteins an organism can produce from only its genome sequence, without mechanistic modeling. Whether similar formal principles govern the relationship between genome sequence and phenotype across scales - from molecules to cells to tissues - is unknown. Here, we show that a single formal principle - structural correspondence - underlies the relationship between phenotype and genome sequence across scales. We represent phenotypes and the genome as graphs and find mappings between them using structure preservation as the sole constraint. Combinatorial richness in phenotypes more tightly constrains which mappings preserve that structure. Thus, phenotypic structure predicts genetic associations independently of covariation with geno

SUBMITTER: Bhate SS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12825100 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature