The commentaries on Evolution in Four Dimensions reflect views ranging from total adherence to gene-centered neo-Darwinism, to the acceptance of non-genetic and Lamarckian processes in evolution. We maintain that genetic, epigenetic, behavioral, and cultural variations have all been significant, and that the developmental aspects of heredity and evolution are an important bridge that can unite seemingly conflicting research programs and different disciplines.

Meaning is a central concept of (bio)semiotics. At the same time, it is also a word of everyday language. Here, on the example of the world information, we discuss the “reduction-inflation model” of evolution of a common word into a scientific concept, to return subsequently into everyday circulation with new connotations. Such may be, in the near future, also the fate of the word meaning if, flexed through objectified semantics, will become considered an objective concept usable in semiotics. We argue (...) that reducing meaning to a technical term essentially synonymous to code and stripped of most of the original semantic field is not a necessary prerequisite for a meaningful application of the concept in semiotics and in biology. (shrink)

Molecular chaperones facilitate the correct folding of other proteins under physiological and stress conditions. Recently it has become evident that various co‐chaperone proteins regulate the cellular functions of these chaperones, particularly Hsp70 and Hsp90. Hop is one of the most extensively studied co‐chaperones that is able to directly associate with both Hsp70 and Hsp90. The current dogma proposes that Hop functions primarily as an adaptor that directs Hsp90 to Hsp70‐client protein complexes in the cytoplasm. However, recent evidence suggests that Hop (...) can also modulate the chaperone activities of these Hsps, and that it is not dedicated to Hsp70 and Hsp90. While the co‐chaperone function of Hop within the cytoplasm has been extensively studied, its association with nuclear complexes and prion proteins remains to be elucidated. This article will review the structural features of Hop, and the evidence that its biological function is considerably broader than previously envisaged. BioEssays 26:1058–1068, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)