Junk DNA: goodbye!: more mouse studies (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, December 16, 2016, 01:12 (2900 days ago) @ David Turell

Another area of 'junk' DNA is found to be active in stress in mice. Darwinists have claimed the so-called non-functional DNA proved their point that evolution was a chance random process. That proof has disappeared:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161215143340.htm

"A study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators has found a surprising role for what had been considered a nonfunctional "junk" RNA molecule: controlling the cellular response to stress. In their report in the Dec. 15 issue of Cell, the researchers describe finding that a highly specific interaction between two elements previously known to repress gene transcription -- B2 RNA and EZH2, an enzyme previously known only to silence genes -- actually induces the expression of stress-response genes in mouse cells.

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"Less than 2 percent of the genome in mammals actually codes for proteins, and for many years it was thought that noncoding DNA was a useless artifact. While some is translated into RNA molecules required for maintaining and regulating cellular functions -- such as transfer RNA and microRNAs -- the impression that most noncoding RNA serves no function has persisted. This has been particularly true for long noncoding RNAs and is even more the case for molecules transcribed from "parasitic" retrotransposons -- repetitive DNA sequences inserted throughout the genome. But recent studies in mouse cells have indicated that RNA transcribed from the B2 retrotransposon binds to stress genes and suppresses their transcription.

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"Their cellular experiments confirmed that EZH2 binds to B2 RNA and, when subjected to heat, cuts or cleaves the RNA molecule. That cleavage of B2 RNA -- which otherwise binds to and silences genes that protect against cellular damage by heat shock -- allowed the transcription of those heat-shock genes.

"'Our findings imply that B2 is a key regulator of the stress response and probably has that role in all types of cells," says Lee, who is a professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. "We and others have studied B2 cells in mice, but these same types of short interspersed nuclear elements are found in human cells, where they are quite different. While it remains to be seen whether human SINEs have similar properties, I wouldn't be surprised if they do.'"

Comment: It is the same old story. The more DNA is researched the more functional areas are found. Most of it is not leftover junk from previous evolution. It is complex and it is purposeful.