Molecular biology explanations

The mechanisms proposed by Rea, Bell, and Pall are not incompatible. Each addresses MCS from a different angle and all three are valid. Rea attributes MCS to a weakened immune system and altered metabolism. Bell proposes that neurosensitization is the key to MCS induction, and Pall theorizes a molecular biological explanation. There are differences, however. 

The reason is simple. If the aim of science is explanation and explanations in functional biology are adequate, complete, and correct, then the methodological prescription that we must search for molecular completions, corrections, or foundations of these functional explanations in molecular processes, will be unwarranted. Consequently, molecular biology need not be the inevitable foundation for every compartment of functional biology. If the aim of science is explanation, and functional explanations are either false or incomplete, and molecular explanations either (more) correct or (more) complete, then biology must act on the methodological prescription... 

The reason is basically the same story we learned above about why the kinds of functional biology cannot be identified with those of molecular biology. Because the same functional role can be realized by a diversity of structures, and because natural selection encourages this diversity, the full macromolecular explanation for (PS) or for (G) will have to advert to a range of physical systems that realize independent assortment in many different ways. These different ways will be an unmanageable disjunction of alternatives so great that we will not be able to recognize what they... 

In the period after Murray first produced his models, molecular biology has provided more and more of the proximate why-necessary explanations that the reductionist demands for the historical facts about butterfly eyespots. 

Eunctional studies may help clarify a mechanism of clinical association and are often chosen based on the location of the SNP. The technique that is chosen obviously depends on the mechanism that is being assessed. This section provides examples of how molecular techniques have been used to provide functional information about a SNP and how that information suggested a possible mechanism for the reported clinical association. In case of unfamiliarity with the technique used in the examples, brief descriptions of these techniques are provided at the end of this section. These descriptions are not intended to provide a comprehensive explanation of the technique. Detailed description of how to perform these techniques, as well as a summary of the technical issues relevant to them, can be found in texts such as Current Protocols in Molecular Biology (22). 

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