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Review
. 2001 Nov 20;98(24):13763-8.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.231499798. Epub 2001 Nov 6.

Degeneracy and complexity in biological systems

G M Edelman  1 , J A Gally
Affiliations
Review

Degeneracy and complexity in biological systems

G M Edelman et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Degeneracy, the ability of elements that are structurally different to perform the same function or yield the same output, is a well known characteristic of the genetic code and immune systems. Here, we point out that degeneracy is a ubiquitous biological property and argue that it is a feature of complexity at genetic, cellular, system, and population levels. Furthermore, it is both necessary for, and an inevitable outcome of, natural selection.

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