Causal specificity and the instructive-permissive distinction
Causal specificity and the instructive-permissive distinction
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DOI：
10.1007/s10539-017-9568-0
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发表时间：
2017-07-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Calcott, Brett
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Calcott, Brett
我使用一些最近的正式工作测量因果关系，探讨詹姆斯伍德沃德的建议：因果特异性的概念可以澄清生物学之间的区别宽容和指导性的原因。当复杂的发育过程（例如整个身体部位的形成）可以通过简单的开关（例如特定蛋白质的存在）触发时，就会出现这种区别。在这种情况下，蛋白质被认为只是诱导或“允许”发育过程，而引导该过程的因果“指令”已经在细胞内预先设定。我构建了一个新的模型，以一种简单易行的方式表达了生物发展的相关因果结构，然后使用因果特异性来分析模型。我表明，允许的指导性的区别不能简单地通过对比伍德沃德提出的两个原因的特异性，而是引入一种替代的，分层的方法来分析两个原因之间的相互作用。由此产生的分析强调了在分析基因独特的因果力量时，关注基因调控而不仅仅是编码区的重要性。
I use some recent formal work on measuring causation to explore a suggestion by James Woodward: that the notion of causal specificity can clarify the distinction in biology between permissive and instructive causes. This distinction arises when a complex developmental process, such as the formation of an entire body part, can be triggered by a simple switch, such as the presence of particular protein. In such cases, the protein is said to merely induce or "permit" the developmental process, whilst the causal "instructions" for guiding that process are already prefigured within the cells. I construct a novel model that expresses in a simple and tractable way the relevant causal structure of biological development and then use a measure of causal specificity to analyse the model. I show that the permissive-instructive distinction cannot be captured by simply contrasting the specificity of two causes as Woodward proposes, and instead introduce an alternative, hierarchical approach to analysing the interaction between two causes. The resulting analysis highlights the importance of focusing on gene regulation, rather than just the coding regions, when analysing the distinctive causal power of genes.