Major steps in the evolution of early organisms

我们已经理所当然地认为有机体拥有基因组。一项巨大的科学努力已经投入到人类和许多其他物种的基因组测序中。基因组学领域是在一整套相互作用的基因和蛋白质水平上对生物体的研究。细胞被认为是一个复杂的系统，在这个系统中发生化学反应，分子被分解和重新合成，细胞组件主动和被动地移动，结构组装和拆卸。结果，细胞存活、生长和繁殖。相比之下，基因组不知何故是特殊的。它仍然负责诉讼程序，而不直接做任何事情。它是分子精英，由各种其他分子参与，旨在保持它不受损害，并允许它准确地传递给下一代，只需在这里或那里发生一些微小的突变。基因组是如何上升到这个至高无上的地位的？

We have come to take for granted the idea that organisms possess genomes. A huge scientific effort has been put into the sequencing the genomes of human and many other species. The field of genomics is the study of organisms at the level of whole sets of interacting genes and proteins. A cell is envisaged as a complex system in which chemical reactions happen, molecules are broken down and resynthesized, cellular components move about actively and passively, and structures assemble and disassemble. As a result, a cell lives, grows and multiplies. In contrast, the genome is somehow special. It remains in charge of the proceedings without doing anything directly. It is the molecular elite, attended to by a variety of other molecules designed to keep it undamaged and to allow it to be accurately passed on to the next generation with nothing but a few minor mutations here or there. How did the genome rise to this supreme position?