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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=ZH-CN link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='text-justify-trim:punctuation'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:0cm;text-indent:0cm'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Dear FIS Colleagues:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:4.65pt;text-indent:16.5pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Last week, Sung and I discussed the problem of information in cell language and human language. Pedro gave his opinion too. I think the Sung’s work is very important to our information science study.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:4.65pt;text-indent:16.5pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Biology is an informational science, this is the view of Leroy E. Hood of the Nobel prize winner of 2002. As to this argument, he didn't give a complete biological argument — only a genomics one. Review the history of those disciplines that claimed to be the member of information science in the past years, although we cannot wholly agree with them, for example, Bradley Efron — the former president of the American Statistical Association — thought: "Statistics is an information science, the first and most fully developed information science." But I believe, imitating the Efron's statement: "Genetics is an information science, the first and most fully developed information science." It seems to be more real.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:4.65pt;text-indent:16.5pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>In Sung’s statement, imitating human linguistics of letters, words, sentences, texts, he divided the substrate or the media that carry genetic information into the following categories: A. C, G, T or U → genes/mRNA/proteins → metabolic pathways → functional networks of metabolic pathways, as long as we remember those biological experts — the Nobel prize winner in physiology or medicine in 2013 — whose works are only about the chemical signal (information?) in neurotransmitters, they found that signals from one nerve cell to another must be in the form of small packages of vesicles. In some degree, we are immediately aware of its great significance of the study about hierarchical structure of the substrate or the media which carry genetic information here. But, the final verdict may be made by the biologists rather than our information scientists, that is to say, the right of speech may not be in us. Our bewilderment is: Is there a boundary between genetic informatics and genetics? If so, where is it?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:4.65pt;text-indent:16.5pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>For us, if we want to make information science a success, the understanding of information transmission theory in genetics is indispensable. There is no fugitive and cloistered road to the freedom of information science, depression and desolation absolutely is not a positive information to FIS.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:4.65pt;text-indent:16.5pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:4.65pt;text-indent:0cm'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Best wishes,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:12.0pt;text-indent:0cm;line-height:12.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;layout-grid-mode:char'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Xueshan<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:4.65pt;text-indent:0cm;line-height:12.0pt;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;layout-grid-mode:char'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif'>Peking University</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>