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Well, the amount of information (in Shannon's sense) is fairly easy to compute. However, it only takes one bit to be a flag. (Just before the Normandy invasion, the Allies broadcast a particular song saying that the invasion was coming.)

Likewise, there are less than 2^128 files in the world, so one could do a unique indexing to each file in existence with a 128 bit index.

It is true that the amount of information does depend on the model so Shannon's entropy may be different for 1-bit or 2-bit sequence, etc.

In biology, I would think that the "system" should include not only the DNA but also the system using such DNA. Sort of like a computer and the code for the computer.

In biology, I would think that the "system" should include not only the DNA but also the system using such DNA. Sort of like a computer and the code for the computer.

Thanks for your input!

I used the example of a virus and its host to demonstrate that the information content is not a property of DNA sequence alone. In general, DNA sequence is unchanging but it exists in a highly dynamic environment. From my perspective, the environment is analogous to software, while DNA is analogous to hardware.

You are right that the "system" in biology must include the DNA with the environment. There's fixation on the Universal Code (a code that is not absolute, either). But that's one level and not the only crucial one to think about when considering information content of a specific sequence. Just for example, the structure of that sequence determines the interaction of regulatory factors, affecting the "interpretation" of the sequence. DNA structure is independent of the Universal Code.

So, we know about some of the complicating factors. It's not a very straightforward problem to compute the information content of a system in biology.