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DNA transfer in higher life forms occurs far more frequently than the geneticists of 60 years ago could have suspected. Astonishingly, only 1.5% of the genetic
by georgecmu 14y ago
DNA transfer in higher life forms occurs far more frequently than the geneticists of 60 years ago could have suspected.
Astonishingly, only 1.5% of the genetic material in our cells codes for human life. Half of the rest is sometimes described as "junk DNA" with no known function, and the other half consist of genes introduced by viruses and other parasites.
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17809503 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17809503]
- dennisgorelik 14y agoMy guess is that organisms are so susceptible to viruses, because in the long term viruses benefit their hosting organisms a lot -- by transferring potentially useful DNA.
- a_bonobo 14y agoThe term "junk DNA" is not used in science anymore, much of it is repetitive regions that serve regulatory functions, or other unknown reasons. "Junk" DNA has been renamed to "noncoding DNA", the recent ENCODE-project stated that 80% of human DNA has some purpose. See: https://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6099/1159 https://www.sciencemag.org/content/337/6099/1159 P.S.: That article reads like the ENCODE-project killed the term "junk DNA", however, that term wasn't in use before the release of ENCODE, either.