Teeth Between the Eyes: Extra-Oral Dentition in Chimaeras as Evidence for Biological Codes.

IF 1.9 4区 生物学 Q2 BIOLOGY
João Carlos Major
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The recent discovery of functional dentition on the cranial tenaculum of male Hydrolagus colliei (spotted ratfish), published in a 2025 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides a compelling empirical example for the theory of biological codes. Described as a reversal of the long-standing assumption that teeth are exclusively oral structures, this case demonstrates how codified developmental programs can be reused in novel anatomical and functional contexts. This paper explores how the appearance of extra-oral teeth illustrates the triadic structure of code, mediator, and artifact as proposed by Code Biology. Drawing on Barbieri's framework and recent research bridging biological, neural, and symbolic systems, the study argues that biological meaning arises through arbitrary yet functional correspondences, activated and modulated by developmentally regulated mediators, leading to adaptive morphological innovations. The framework presented is not merely metaphorical; it is empirically grounded, conceptually robust, and testable - offering a powerful explanation not only for evolutionary novelty but also for how structured meaning arises in living, cognitive, and cultural systems. By tracing how biological codes give rise to artifacts of both functional and formal relevance, this case contributes to a broader theoretical model that connects morphogenesis, neural semiosis, and archetypal patterns within a unified semiotic view of life.

眼间的牙齿:嵌合体的口外齿作为生物密码的证据。
最近在雄性斑点鼠(Hydrolagus colliei)的颅腱骨上发现的功能性牙列,发表在2025年的《美国国家科学院院刊》上,为生物密码理论提供了一个令人信服的经验例子。长期以来,人们一直认为牙齿完全是口腔结构,这个病例证明了发育程序是如何在新的解剖和功能背景下重复使用的。本文探讨了口腔外牙齿的外观如何说明密码生物学提出的密码、中介和人工制品的三元结构。借鉴Barbieri的框架和最近的连接生物、神经和符号系统的研究,该研究认为,生物意义是通过任意的功能性对应产生的,由发育调节的介质激活和调节,导致适应性形态创新。提出的框架不仅仅是隐喻性的;它以经验为基础,概念健全,可测试——不仅为进化的新颖性提供了有力的解释,也为生活、认知和文化系统中结构化意义的产生提供了有力的解释。通过追踪生物密码如何产生功能和形式相关的人工产物,本案例有助于建立一个更广泛的理论模型,将形态发生、神经符号学和原型模式联系在一个统一的生命符号学观点中。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
Biosystems
Biosystems 生物-生物学
CiteScore
3.70
自引率
18.80%
发文量
129
审稿时长
34 days
期刊介绍: BioSystems encourages experimental, computational, and theoretical articles that link biology, evolutionary thinking, and the information processing sciences. The link areas form a circle that encompasses the fundamental nature of biological information processing, computational modeling of complex biological systems, evolutionary models of computation, the application of biological principles to the design of novel computing systems, and the use of biomolecular materials to synthesize artificial systems that capture essential principles of natural biological information processing.
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