The Four Horsemen of the 'Omicsalypse': ontology, replicability, probability and epistemology.


Journal

Human genetics
ISSN: 1432-1203
Titre abrégé: Hum Genet
Pays: Germany
ID NLM: 7613873

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Jan 2020
Historique:
received: 08 08 2018
accepted: 29 03 2019
pubmed: 22 4 2019
medline: 10 1 2020
entrez: 22 4 2019
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

Much of modern genomics and the other 'omics' that tag along, assert that the causal bases of biomedical outcomes are genomically enumerable lists whose effects are predictable with 'precision', extensible from samples to all, and enabled by ever-greater hypothesis-free data accumulation. The assertion rests on fundamental, if often implicit assumptions, that (1) the phenomena are based on underlying law-like biological causation, and, therefore, are (2) replicable and (3) even if not deterministic, have specifiable, stable, essentially parametric, probabilities, all of which (4) essentially equates induction with deduction, enabling asymptotically accurate prediction based on past observation. These glowing promises are the four horsemen of a genocentric 'Omicsalypse'. But what if the assumptions are wrong or appropriate only to an extent that is unknowable, even in principle? Might there be better ways to understand complex traits?

Identifiants

pubmed: 31006046
doi: 10.1007/s00439-019-02007-7
pii: 10.1007/s00439-019-02007-7
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

115-120

Références

Nat Genet. 2000 Oct;26(2):151-7
pubmed: 11017069
Nat Rev Genet. 2004 Mar;5(3):213-22
pubmed: 14970823
Evol Anthropol. 2015 Nov-Dec;24(6):220-4
pubmed: 26662945
Perspect Biol Med. 2018;61(4):503-516
pubmed: 30613033

Auteurs

Kenneth M Weiss (KM)

Penn State University, University park, PA, USA. kenweiss@psu.edu.

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Classifications MeSH