Communication theory and molecular biology at the crossroads

This paper endeavors to explore ideas at the crossroads of communication theory and molecular biology from various disciplinary backgrounds and vantage points, providing an overview of the state of research and making compelling observations regarding the nature of biological information transmission in light of the principles of digital communication. The paper also focuses on whether evidence of coding theoretic properties exists in biology and if such evidence supports information or coding theory view of genetics. The successful development of biological information and coding can provide a theoretical basis for understanding, quantifying, and engineering error control in natural and synthesized biosystems. The intersection of communication theory and molecular biology could potentially yield a quantitative framework for engineering fault-tolerant genes, proteins, and genomes that approach an organism's communication capacity. Immediate applications of coding theory and coding theoretic principles to genomics are presented.