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Junk DNA

The human genome contains a large amount of genetic information which has not thus far been experimentally demonstrated to perform any useful function. Such non-functional sequences in genes are sometimes referred to as non-coding, because they play no apparent role in DNA to mRNA transcription or mRNA to protein translation, and do not seem to play any significant regulatory or intermediary role in the transcription or translation processes. It has been determined that the genes of many organisms, especially in the human genome, have a multipart structure incorporating exons (coding sequences) and introns (non-coding sequences). Introns frequently contain genetic information that serves no apparent purpose - so called junk DNA. The function of exons is easier to discern experimentally because the functional proteins, to which they contribute information, can reveal their function, and as a result less exons (coding-sequences) are thought of as junk. Introns, on the other hand, contribute to no functional protein, and are actually excised from mRNA during transcription by DNA polymerase. The analysis and investigation of non-coding sequences and junk DNA such as that incorporated in introns is an area of great potential interest for experimental methods incorporating the detection of specified complexity based on complex specified information.

Web Resources On Junk DNA

ISCID News and Features: Common genetic ancestry approach to origins of Introns in the genes of organisms
ISCID News and Features - Sequenced chicken genome has less Junk DNA than human genome

Editor(s): B. Long

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