ABSTRACT
From a computer science perspective, the process stated by the Central Dogma may be less important than the flow of information that it represents. A computer scientist describes the process in an inherently digital manner, where a four-character alphabet containing A, T, C, and G is used to represent nucleotides or bases. From the encoded information in the DNA template in the nucleus, sophisticated machinery reads and copies the information to messenger RNAs. The messenger RNA later translates the information to a protein. Theoretically, A binds to T with a double covalent bond and C binds to T with a triple covalent bond. However, in reality, the A=T and C=G base pairings are not always exact. There are errors and mismatches. The rate of error is about one base pair in every million base pairs. The effect of an error might be negligible or tremendous, depending on the specific position(s) where it occurs. Even a single error may result in deleterious effects by leading to severe diseases such as cancer. An error introduced in early stages may be propagated further in multiple manners. The DNA copy error in a single base pair position may be compared to a single bit error in a computer program. This chapter delves deeper into such issues related to the Central Dogma of modern biology.
