Is instinct inherited in DNA programming, or is there another source that holds this information?

Question

Simple question, hard answer. Where is it placed. Possibly it is not there until birth, or is taught in upbringing. Upbringing is DEFINATELY ruled out from studying bastardized animals. What part of the biological process holds this information.

Additional Details

4 days ago
Is instinct programmed into the lifecycle of a person from repetitive training, to be passed on to the children?????

3 days ago
One last question, if instinct is inheritent-ly created and passed on from so called "lifetime experiences;" does it or will it dissolve with certain variables such as no more need for this instinct? (This means all progenies are from the same species, race, culture, etc, with no need to adhere to this instinctive nature anymore.)

Answer 1

DNA encodes reaction to stimuli. Your eyesight and hearing, and your reflex response (such as a doctor's hammer to the knee area), are not taught. DNA not only encodes how individual cells make proteins for housekeeping, but also what cells they should become and how they should react to the actions of other cells.

Instinct is, by definition, inbred. And certain behavior responses do come from the genes, and are not taught. Breathing right after birth, is one of them. Sucking is another.

Mammals who do not have this innate, inbred, instinctual trait, died out immediately, and did not reproduce.

The short answer is that DNA encodes the programming not only of the physical structure, but also the information necessary for a cold-start of the system. Application programs get added on later, but the basic OS gets booted by ROM automatically.
And we don't have to get a validation certificate from Microsoft, either. Just mom's breast.

Answer 2

Hi. I often wonder about this. How does a spider know how to make a web? A bee know how to 'dance' the location to a food source, etc. The only mechanism that gets transferred to offspring is encoded in the DNA somehow. But instincts can evolve just as wings do. Bad instincts, low survival rate.

Answer 3

Nobody is certain how DNA transcribes into any kind of characteristic. We can map the genome but we cannot as yet know how genes translate into results. And we may never know as it is possible that the micro laws governing molecules amplify into macro rules and that we may never know what creates the transition.

Answer 4

As we live our lifes our DNA changes, so does the upbringing change the DNA or does the DNA change us? That is a hard problem to test in the lab, until it is we don't know.