Mote

##Genetics in JavaScript

See it in the current state: http://katebee.github.io/Mote/

Partly inspired by the excellent article: 'DNA seen through the eyes of a coder' (http://ds9a.nl/amazing-dna/). Partly an opportunity to try out canvas and associated libraries.

THE PLAN:

Build a simple, working analogy to represent gene expression.

DNA.sequence contains a string that uses only four letters (ATGC).

Mote will begin with three genes, and also include start codons and stop codons.

the genes will control the colour, size and ???

Proteins are objects, normally with one major function.

RNA polymerase (protein) has a function (transcribe) that takes the DNA variable as an argument, searches the string for a particular sequence (start codon) then attempts to read the string in three base blocks until it encounters a particular sequence (stop codon).

rnaPolymerase.transcribe(DNA.sequence) will return mRNA.

The ribosome object has a function (translate) that takes mRNA and produces the specified protein (object)

the proteins have functions that effect the phenotype (observable qualities) of the cell (colour, size).

FURTHER GOALS:

Cellular survival signals and API requests

Retroviruses and malicious code insertion into DNA.sequence

prions; broken objects that break other objects.

How cells deal with error checking and uncaught errors.

Tumour suppressor genes and unit tests. They can kill the program if it does not pass.

Proto-oncogenes and why timeOuts are important.

Write some documentation to explain all this and (hopefully) impart some understanding of genetics and epigenetics.