The computational aspects of DNA become more evident each day. Recently a series of experiments have suggested that classic Mendelian genetics is not the whole story. Specifically, contrary to classic Mendel, a certain research plant can revert back to its original grandparents after breeding. It would be like you recovering genes of your grandparents that your parents did not have. The question is, if this is true, where do the old genes come from? Because the research was done on plants, some skeptical of the findings thought it came from cross-pollination even though the plants self-pollinate. New research in isolated chambers dismisses that conjecture. But the original researcher has an idea, as recounted in a The Scientist article:

    According to this theory, somewhere in the plant cells exists an RNA copy of ancestral DNA.

    In other words, cells carry their own internal backups. For some reason, something can trigger the "restore" button and the chromosome is restored with an archival version of the gene.

    That's one of several theories but all of them assume that the genetic information process in a cell is like a computer with dozens of weird sum-checking, error-correcting, self-governing circuits -- and all the recursive weirdness they entail.

    DNA具有计算机功能的这一特征变得日益显着。最近一系列试验表明经典的孟德尔基因学说并非无懈可击。具体而言，和孟德尔学说相反的是，某种特定的用来做实验的植物在经过培育之后会出现返祖现象。就好像你会恢复成你祖父母的基因，而这些基因在你父母身上并不存在。问题是，如果这是真的，那么原先你身上的那些基因从何而来呢？由于这是基于植物的实验，有人怀疑这是植物间交叉传粉的结果（即使这些植物是自花传粉的）.然而，一项在封闭的密室里进行的新的研究否定了这种猜测。但是最初研究这个实验的科学家却有这样的一个想法（转述《科学》杂志文摘）:

    根据理论，在植物细胞的某个地方存在一个父代DNA的RNA副本。

    换言之，植物细胞内部有备份。在某些情况下，某些物质一旦触发"恢复"按钮，基因染色体就会恢复到之前的那个备份版本。

    类似的理论还有很多种，但是所有的这些理论都同时得出一个假设：细胞内部的信息处理过程就好像一台计算机，具有数十个千奇百怪的自动求和、纠错、自我调理电路等功能，以及它们需要的奇怪的递归程序。