NEO-DARWINISM JUST DIED: Junk DNA or useful (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, September 06, 2012, 15:05 (4440 days ago) @ David Turell
edited by unknown, Thursday, September 06, 2012, 15:47

Pseudogenes have function; are not junk, without function:
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> http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/rnabiology/article/18277/?nocache=1093064241-A massive study of DNA reported this week in multiple papers shows that 'junk' DNA is not junk.It is filled with switches to control genes. Now instead of 80% junk, it turns out most is useful. This turns Neo-Darwinism on its head. One of the key tenets of Neo-Darwin theory was that much of DNA was left over from evolution, and just an evidence of the past. Yes, there is some viral DNA in our DNA, as a past history but most DNA turns out to be 'switches' controlling genes and in the coiled state the switches are close to the genes they control.-"The thought before the start of the project, said Thomas Gingeras, an Encode researcher from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, was that only 5 to 10 percent of the DNA in a human being was actually being used." -The big surprise was not only that almost all of the DNA is used but also that a large proportion of it is gene switches. Before Encode, said Dr. John Stamatoyannopoulos, a University of Washington scientist who was part of the project, "if you had said half of the genome and probably more has instructions for turning genes on and off, I don't think people would have believed you."-http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/science/far-from-junk-dna-dark-matter-proves-crucial-to-health.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120906-
http://the-scientist.com/2012/09/05/getting-to-know-the-genome/