Title: GEB DNA, RNA, and Typogenetics
Tags: dna-rna godel-escher-bach

Front: What are the letters G, C, T, A called?
Back: bases
Notes: note: "nucleotides" is incorrect here, as that also include the extra parts (the deoxyribose and phosphate group)
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 505.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Strands, Bases, Enzymes

Front: Typogenetics: name for the mobile machines that operate on strands
Back: enzymes
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 505.
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Section: Strands, Bases, Enzymes

Front: What's the tricky thing/twist about copying a strand?
Back: you always copy the complementary strand, rather than literally copying the strand
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 506.
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Section: Copy Mode and Double Strands

Front: Typogenetics: what are amino acids?
Back: they are commands like "cut strand", "delete a base", "turn on Copy mode", "insert A", etc.
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 508.
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Section: Amino Acids 1

Front: Typogenetics: Every [...] is made up of a sequence of [...]. (protein space)
Back: enzyme, amino acids
Notes: note: "protein" is not a correct answer here because in Typogenetics, there are no proteins, only enzymes
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 508.
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Section: Amino Acids 1

Front: Typogenetics: Every [...] is made up of a sequence of [...]. (nucleotide space)
Back: strand, bases
Notes: note: "nucleotide" is not a correct answer here, because in Typogenetics there are no nucleotides, only bases.
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 505.
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Section: Strands, Bases, Enzymes

Front: Typogenetics vs formal system: permanence of strands/theorems
Back: in Typogenetics, after a strand is acted on by an enzyme, its original form is gone, whereas in a formal system, using a rule of inference with some theorem to produce new theorems doesn't destroy the old theorem
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 509.
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Section: Translation and the Typogenetic Code

Front: Typogenetics vs formal system: the arbitrary strand you begin with is like [...] in a formal system.
Back: an axiom
Notes: note: axiom here is used to mean "original thing that everything else comes from", not in the sense of "immutable truth"
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 509.
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Section: Translation and the Typogenetic Code

Front: Typogenetics vs formal system: enzymes are like what in a formal system?
Back: rules of inference
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 509.
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Section: Translation and the Typogenetic Code

Front: Typogenetics: How is a gene defined?
Back: that portion of a strand which codes for a single enzyme (i.e., which has no punctuation duplet AA)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 512.
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Section: Punctuation, Genes, and Ribosomes

Front: Typogenetics: what's the mechanism which reads strands and produces the enzymes which are coded inside the strands?
Back: ribosome (which is basically the human playing the "game" of Typogenetics)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 512.
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Section: Punctuation, Genes, and Ribosomes

Front: Typogenetics: what determines how strands define enzymes?
Back: the Typogenetic Code
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 509.
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Section: Translation and the Typogenetic Code

Front: Typogenetics: In what sense do strands play the role of data?
Back: strands are acted upon by enzymes
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 513.
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Section: The Central Dogma of Typogenetics

Front: Typogenetics: In what sense do strands play the role of programs?
Back: strands encode the actions which are to be performed on the data
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 513.
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Section: The Central Dogma of Typogenetics

Front: Which arrow is the role of the interpreter/compiler?
Back: left (takes strands-as-programs and turns them into "machine code"/instructions to be performed)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 513.
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Section: The Central Dogma of Typogenetics

Front: Which arrow is the role of the processor?
Back: right (takes "machine code"/instructions to be performed and then actually executes those instructions using the strands-as-data)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 513.
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Section: The Central Dogma of Typogenetics

Front: What's the difference between "nucleotide" and "base"?
Back: "nucleotide" includes the extra parts of each "bead" (namely a sugar called deoxyribose and a phosphate group), whereas "base" refers only to the A,C,G,T part of the nucelotide
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 514.
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Section: DNA and Nucleotides

Front: Which bonds are stronger, the bonds connecting nucleotides along a single strand, or the bonds connecting two strands?
Back: the bonds connecting nucleotides along a single strand
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. pp. 514–516.
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Section: DNA and Nucleotides

Front: Which bonds are weaker, the bonds connecting nucleotides along a single strand, or the bonds connecting two strands?
Back: the bonds connecting two strands
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. pp. 514–516.
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Section: DNA and Nucleotides

Front: If the DNA is stored in the nucleus of the cell, and enzymes are manufactured (using info in the DNA) by ribosomes in the cytoplasm of the cell, how does the information about the enzyme structure get from the nucleus to the ribosomes?
Back: via messenger RNA
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 517.
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Section: Messenger RNA and Ribosomes

Front: What shape does mRNA tend to have?
Back: long, somewhat randomly curving strands
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 517.
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Section: Messenger RNA and Ribosomes

Front: In Typogenetics, the thing that takes the strand and converts it to an enzyme
Back: ribosome
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 512.
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Section: Punctuation, Genes, and Ribosomes

Front: In Typogenetics, the thing that takes the strand and operates on it
Back: enzyme
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 505.
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Section: Strands, Bases, Enzymes

Front: The name of the molecules that look like a four-leaf clover
Back: tRNA
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 524.
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Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Name of the table that encodes the mapping from codons to amino acids
Back: the Genetic Code
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: The Genetic Code

Front: What's the Genetic Code?
Back: it's a mapping from triplets of nucleotides/bases (i.e., codons) to amino acids
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: The Genetic Code

Front: Name for three bases/nucleotides
Back: codon
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: The Genetic Code

Front: What's the thing that takes mRNA and spits out a protein?
Back: ribosome
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 517.
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Section: Messenger RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Name of the process to go from DNA to mRNA
Back: transcription
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 517.
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Section: Messenger RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Where in the cell does transcription take place?
Back: the nucleus
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 517.
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Section: Messenger RNA and Ribosomes

Front: What is transcription?
Back: The process by which DNA gets copied to mRNA
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 517.
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Section: Messenger RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Name of the process to go from mRNA to protein
Back: translation
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. pp. 518–519.
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Section: Ribosomes and Tape Recorders

Front: Where in the cell does translation take place?
Back: the cytoplasm
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 518.
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Section: Ribosomes and Tape Recorders

Front: What is translation?
Back: The process by which a ribosome uses mRNA to produce an enzyme/protein/sequence of amino acids
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 518.
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Section: Ribosomes and Tape Recorders

Front: What are the building blocks for enzymes/proteins?
Back: amino acids
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. pp. 504–532.
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Section: Amino Acids 2

Front: Proteins: what's the primary structure?
Back: the sequence of amino acids
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: Tertiary Structure

Front: Proteins: Which kind of structure is the sequence of amino acids?
Back: primary structure
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: Tertiary Structure

Front: Proteins: what's the secondary structure?
Back: any sort of repetitive spiraling or bunching that the protein does, e.g. the alpha helix
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 525.
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Section: Levels of Structure and Meaning in Proteins and Music

Front: Proteins: what's the tertiary structure?
Back: the complicated and hard-to-predict folding structure
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: Tertiary Structure

Front: Proteins: Which kind of structure is the complicated and hard-to-predict folding structure, i.e., the way in which the protein likes to fold up?
Back: tertiary structure
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: Tertiary Structure

Front: Proteins: what's the quaternary structure?
Back: sometimes, the protein will fold into multiple giant blobs (and these blobs are usually held together by hydrogen bonds), and the quaternary structure is the arrangement of such blobs
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 525.
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Section: Levels of Structure and Meaning in Proteins and Music

Front: Difference between real genetics and Typogenetics: deriving the tertiary structure from the primary structure
Back: In Typogenetics, a simple table gives the rules for which direction to "fold" the enzyme in, whereas in real genetics, there is no such simple rule to derive the tertiary structure
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: Tertiary Structure

Front: Difference between real genetics and Typogenetics: context-free function of amino acids
Back: In Typogenetics, each amino acid of an enzyme is responsible for a single action, but in real genetics it is the tertiary structure of the enzyme as a whole which determines the function of the enzyme, so one cannot just look at a single amino acid in isolation in a context-free way to determine its function
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 520.
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Section: Reductionistic Explanation of Protein Function

Front: In what sense can the function of an enzyme be described in a context-free way?
Back: by going down to the level of physics (electrons and protons), rather than the level of individual amino acids
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 522.
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Section: Reductionistic Explanation of Protein Function

Front: What's the name for this table?
Back: the Genetic Code
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. pp. 519–520.
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Section: The Genetic Code

Front: Does the ribosome "know" the genetic code?
Back: No
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 522.
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Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Another name for protein
Back: polypeptide
Notes: note: apparently, technically, "protein" is reserved for polypeptides that are long enough
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 523.
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Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Another name for polypeptide
Back: protein
Notes: note: apparently, technically, "protein" is reserved for polypeptides that are long enough
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 523.
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Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Size comparison: DNA vs mRNA
Back: DNA is much longer
Notes: note: The book actually compares the lengths of proteins to the length of DNA. But since the length of a strand of mRNA is just 3 times the length of the corresponding protein, the comparison still holds (3 times "about three hundred" is about 900; DNA is still "hundreds of thousands or millions").
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 518.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Amino Acids 2

Front: Size comparison: mRNA vs tRNA
Back: tRNA is much smaller
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 524.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: What is surprising about the structure of tRNA?
Back: Despite being nucleotide-based (rather than amino-acid-based), they have fixed, well-defined tertiary structure just like proteins (and unlike DNA/mRNA)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 524.
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Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Hofstadter's "vivid image" for tRNA
Back: as flashcards floating around the ribosome
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 524.
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Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: What determines the tertiary structure of a protein?
Back: It is implicit in and completely determined by the primary structure: the sequence of amino acids
Notes: note: In other words, once mRNA is translated by any ribosome into protein, it will always have the same tertiary structure. It's not as if two different ribosomes will somehow "fold up" the protein into different shapes. The folding just happens on its own, completely determined by the order in which the amino acids appear in the protein.
However, there are also things called molecular chaperones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaperone_(protein) and the Wikipedia page there mentions that proteins can be "misfolded", so probably reality is more complicated than this basic picture. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denaturation_(biochemistry)
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: Tertiary Structure

Front: Give an example of a secondary structure
Back: (e.g., α-helix, β-sheet)
Notes: note: β-sheet is not mentioned in GEB but it's frequently mentioned in other sources.
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 525.
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Section: Levels of Structure and Meaning in Proteins and Music

Front: Name of the enzyme that copies DNA to mRNA
Back: RNA polymerase
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 527.
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Section: Polyribosomes and Two-Tiered Canons

Front: What's RNA polymerase?
Back: the enzyme that copies DNA to mRNA
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 527.
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Section: Polyribosomes and Two-Tiered Canons

Front: What's the thing that takes DNA and transcribes it to mRNA?
Back: RNA polymerase
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 527.
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Section: Polyribosomes and Two-Tiered Canons

Front: What's DNA polymerase?
Back: the enzyme that copies a strand of DNA to make identical DNA
Notes: note: DNA polymerase does not act all by itself; there are two more "helper" enzymes that also play a role.
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 530.
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Section: How DNA Self-Replicates

Front: What's the thing that takes mRNA and translates it to amino acids?
Back: ribosome (with the help of tRNA)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 519.
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Section: Ribosomes and Tape Recorders

Front: What are polyribosomes?
Back: It's where many ribosomes are all in a line, each producing one instance of the same protein using the same strand of mRNA (with a delay, of course)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 527.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Polyribosomes and Two-Tiered Canons

Front: What does tRNA stand for?
Back: transfer RNA
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 524.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: Name for the phenomenon where several ribosomes are translating using the same mRNA at the same time (with delay)
Back: polyribosome
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 527.
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Section: Polyribosomes and Two-Tiered Canons

Front: What are ribosomes made out of?
Back: proteins and rRNA (ribosomal RNA)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 528.
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Section: Which Came First – The Ribosome or the Protein?

Front: What's rRNA?
Back: a type of RNA that ribosomes are made out of
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 528.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Which Came First – The Ribosome or the Protein?

Front: Name for the thing an enzyme acts on
Back: substrate
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 529.
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Section: Protein Function

Front: What's one way to render an enzyme inactive, as mentioned in GEB?
Back: clog up the active site of the enzyme with some "decoy" molecule
Notes: note: this is similar to what a receptor antagonist does to a cell
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 529.
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Section: Protein Function

Front: Typo-enzymes vs real enzymes: number of tasks
Back: most real enzymes perform only a single task, rather than a sequence of tasks the way Typo-enzymes do
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 529.
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Section: Protein Function

Front: Typo-enzymes vs real enzymes: what they act on
Back: Typo-enzymes only act on strands, whereas bio-enzymes act on pretty much everything (DNA, RNA, other proteins, ribosomes, cell membranes)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 529.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Protein Function

Front: enzymes are the [...] for getting things done in the cell
Back: universal mechanisms
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 529.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Protein Function

Front: [...] are the universal mechanisms for getting things done in the cell
Back: enzymes
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 529.
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Section: Protein Function

Front: In this diagram, the bottom pointing arrow represents [...], and the top pointing arrow represents [...]. (Substitute: information-copy, information-creation)
Back: information-creation, information-copy
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 513.
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Section: The Central Dogma of Typogenetics

Front: Bonds between nucleotides on the same strand are stronger [...] whereas bonds between complementary (pyrimidine–purine) nucleotides are weaker [...]. (Substitute: hydrogen bonds, covalent bonds)
Back: covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. pp. 514, 516.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: DNA and Nucleotides

Front: Does the Genetic Code have a U or T?
Back: U
Notes: note: remember, translation happens in RNA-world, not DNA-world!
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 520.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: The Genetic Code

Front: Why does it make sense that the Genetic Code has uracil rather than thymine?
Back: because translation happens using mRNA, not DNA
Notes: note: This is not explicitly stated in the text.
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 520.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: The Genetic Code

Front: What are peptide bonds?
Back: the (covalent) bonds that hold together two amino acids
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 523.
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Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: What type of chemical bond is a peptide bond?
Back: covalent bond
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 523.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: How do you remember what tRNA looks like?
Back: it's shaped like a t
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 522.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Transfer RNA and Ribosomes

Front: In which way is DNA like a quine sentence?
Back: the same strand (words) can be interpreted both as data (words-being-mentioned) and program (words-being-used)
Notes: source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 531.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Comparison of DNA’s Self-Rep Method with Quining

Front: In which way is DNA like a quine program?
Back: When interpreted, it yields a copy of itself
Notes: note: This comparison is not explicitly made in the text.
source: Douglas Hofstadter. Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (GEB). Chapter XVI: Self-Ref and Self-Rep. p. 531.
Other fields (not shown on cards):
Section: Comparison of DNA’s Self-Rep Method with Quining