[danwills]

I have only read the abstract so far but this seems to align pretty well with the idea of how the relationship between genes and tissues/organs is framed in Michael Levin's group's research: Genes mostly encode the molecular hardware and this helps to set up the initial-state of the 'software' during morphogenesis, and the cells primarily follow the software, but within the bounds of what is supported by the hardware.

The 'software' of biology in this framework is described as like pattern-memories stored in "vMem" voltage-gradient patterns between cells in the tissue, analagously to how neurons store information. I think the analogy breaks down slightly here because the memory is more like a remebered-target than something that 'can be executed' like software can.

The vMem 'memory' of what 'shape' to grow-into can be altered (by adding chemicals that open or close specific gap junctions) such that any regrowth or development can target a different location in morphospace (ie grow an eye instead of epithelial tissue as in the tadpole example from Levin's research).

Fascinating and I hope to have a read of the whole paper soon!