'Junk' DNA Has Important Role, Researchers Find

http://www.sciencedaily.com ^ | May 21, 2009 | Princeton University

[Maelstorm]

Scientists have called it "junk DNA." They have long been perplexed by these extensive strands of genetic material that dominate the genome but seem to lack specific functions. Why would nature force the genome to carry so much excess baggage?

Now researchers from Princeton University and Indiana University who have been studying the genome of a pond organism have found that junk DNA may not be so junky after all. They have discovered that DNA sequences from regions of what had been viewed as the "dispensable genome" are actually performing functions that are central for the organism. They have concluded that the genes spur an almost acrobatic rearrangement of the entire genome that is necessary for the organism to grow.

It all happens very quickly. Genes called transposons in the single-celled pond-dwelling organism Oxytricha produce cell proteins known as transposases. During development, the transposons appear to first influence hundreds of thousands of DNA pieces to regroup. Then, when no longer needed, the organism cleverly erases the transposases from its genetic material, paring its genome to a slim 5 percent of its original load.

"The transposons actually perform a central role for the cell," said Laura Landweber, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton and an author of the study. "They stitch together the genes in working form." The work appeared in the May 15 edition of Science.

In order to prove that the transposons have this reassembly function, the scientists disabled several thousand of these genes in some Oxytricha. The organisms with the altered DNA, they found, failed to develop properly.

[Maelstorm]

[Paladin2]

BTTT, junk in your trunk.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It's the scientific way, don't you know?

Anything you don't understand is "junk."

[FroggyTheGremlim]

Pond Organisms

Oxytricha

Oxyhelen

[GourmetDan]

""Last year, we found the instruction book for how to put this genome back together again -- the instruction set comes in the form of RNA that is passed briefly from parent to offspring and these maternal RNAs provide templates for the rearrangement process," Landweber said."

For this organism at least, the 'chicken and egg' question was answered last year and the chicken won.

No wonder we didn't hear of it.

[Maelstorm]

Usually they just say it doesn’t exist or isn’t a part of the scientific consensus. Part of it really was simply because all that “Junk” really complicates their phony comparison of human and chimp dna.

[wombtotomb]

The real problem with their theory is God doesn’t make junk :)

[Nathan Zachary]

The term “scientist” is used far too liberally these days.

[BlueStateBlues]

Cuddleyv picture. bookmark for later, thanks for the news.

[PapaBear3625]

For a long time, the appendix was viewed as a useless vestigial organ. Now we know it has an important function as part of the immune system

[dangerdoc]

Genetic zip file.

[donna]

I missed that one. Thanks for the link.

[Maelstorm]

Yes and there is an astounding simplicity with which they view life that is incompatible with reality. Nanotechnology is heralded as a grand new science. Every cell is a biological machine that operates on a scale that makes our most advanced technologies look like tinker toys. The thing holding science back is the insistence on eliminating God rather than simply reporting what they discover.

[wombtotomb]

Isn’t it so sad? It seems to me it would be so much more comforting to know that we don’t know or understand everything but that its ok because God is in control. Just let em keep digging. They will one day see that faith and science are not only compatible, they are one, because God created science and our ability to practice it.

Liberals, making molehills out of mountains.....

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Note: this topic is from 5/21/2009. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·

[AFreeBird]

This must be the same concept that’s behind the proverbial “junk drawer” everyone has. It looks like something you may need, but you’re not quite sure for what. And then one day.. eureka, I can use this!

[longtermmemmory]

part of the problem is the layman thinks DNA is read in a straight line. It is not. The RNA zips across a 3D twisted mass of a DNA strand.

It is like taking an Avenue cutting across Streets.

[AFreeBird]

For a long time, the appendix was viewed as a useless vestigial organ. Now we know it has an important function as part of the immune system

We found that out with my dad. He had had his appendix taken out late in life. Complications resulting from hip surgery, resulted in C-Def, a bacterial infection that required them to kill off all the bacteria. W/out his appendix, they had to start feeding him heavy doses of yogurt and the like to get the good bacteria back into his system.

[AdmSmith]

Yes, Clostridium difficile is nowadays dangerous especially strain 027, that is resistant to many antibiotics. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/14/9/1485.htm

Careful hand washing and disinfection of contaminated surfaces is very important:

Clostridium difficile causes several hundred thousand human infections and several thousand deaths each year in the United States. In recent years, the number and severity of these infections has been on the rise. Certain antibiotics can actually improve the growth environment for the bacteria in our gut by decreasing the natural flora that normally protects us. For this reason, previous use of antibiotics to treat other illnesses is a major risk factor for C. difficile infection. The elderly and individuals with weakened immune systems are also at great risk of becoming infected.

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/blog/2009/04/16/c-diff.html

[allmendream]

Indeed, it is disingenuous for people to try to claim that when biologists coined the phrase “junk” DNA that they were saying that it was “garbage” DNA.

Garbage gets thrown out.

Junk sits around mostly unused, like old keys or allen wrenches and unused screws and bolts in a “junk drawer”.