Junk?

November 27th, 2021| Topic: RaMbLeS | 0

How little we know!

Scientist David Comings was the one who applied the term “junk DNA” to all DNA that did not code for any protein (or even RNA). About 98% of all human DNA is, thereby, “junk.”

Said Francis Crick, one of the co-discoverers of DNA:

Junk DNA has little specificity and conveys little or no selective advantage to the organism.”

Clearly, the term ”junk DNA” is based on a strong a priori assumption of non-functionality. Some biologists have recommended using more neutral terminology such as “non-coding DNA” instead. Yet “junk DNA” remains a label for the portions of the cell’s genome for which no discernible function has been identified and no adaptive advantage has been provided by it to the organism.

As far as we know!

While parts of human DNA that code instructions for making proteins differ from those of chimpanzees by less than 1%, the biggest differences between humans and chimps are found in the “junk DNA” that each species carries.

[Of course, chimps can’t write A Merchant of Venice, compose Mass in B minor, play cricket, or wear bowties with panache. (And Jesus Christ was not incarnated as one of them, either.) But otherwise, we’re all the same!!!]

“A Cis-acting Structural Vriation at the ZNF558 Locus Controls a Gene Regulatory Network in Human Brain Development,” published in Stem Cell by a group of Swedish scientists, claims that this “junk DNA” may actually hold the answers to why human brains work differently from those of chimps and other primates.

Announced Johan Jakobsson, senior author on the study:

I believe that the brain is the key to understanding what it is that makes humans human. How did it come about that humans can use their brains in such a way that they can build societies, educate their children and develop advanced technology?”

Researchers found that humans and chimpanzees use the non-coded part of their DNA in their stem cells in different ways, which appears to play a considerable role in the development of human brains.

Jakobsson:

The part of our DNA identified as different was unexpected. It was a so-called structural variant of DNA that was previously called ‘junk DNA,’ a long repetitive DNA string which has long been deemed to have no function. Previously, researchers have looked for answers in the part of the DNA where the protein-producing genes are—which only makes up about 2% of our entire DNA— and examined the proteins themselves to find examples of differences. Our results indicate that what has been significant for the brain’s development is instead perhaps hidden in the overlooked 98%.”

There’s so much more to know!

Jakobsson again:

But there is a long way to go before we reach that point of discovering why species are different. Instead of carrying out further research on the 2% of coded DNA, we may now be forced to delve deeper into all 100%—a considerably more complicated task for research.”

Miles to go before we know!

But the One who created all things, he’s different.

God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
1 John 3:20

Omniscient!

Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.
Psalm 147:5

He sees it all!

The eyes of the LORD are in every place.
Proverbs 15:3

And knows it all!

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! …
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33, 36

SOURCE:
Jerusalem Post; Scientific American; Stem Cell