Scientists Vie To Break Junk DNA's Secret Code

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | Roger Highfield

[blam]

Scientists vie to break junk DNA's secret code

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 06/10/2003)

Huge tracts of human DNA, previously written off as meaningless junk, have been found to contain a hitherto unrecognised "genetic grammar", making the language of our genes much more complex than previously thought.

The discovery is of potentially huge significance, since it could lead to an entirely new explanation for certain diseases and symptoms. A race is now on among teams of scientists worldwide to investigate this cryptic code.

While the genetic recipe of a human being is spelt out with three billion letters of DNA code, only about two per cent of these correspond to the genes - the DNA that describes the proteins that build and operate bodies.

In the latest issue of the journal Science, Prof Stylianos Antonarakis of the University of Geneva Medical School, Dr Ewen Kirkness of the Institute of Genomic Research, Maryland, and colleagues have reported compelling evidence that up to three per cent of our genetic material has a crucial role that is not understood.

They made the unexpected discovery that some DNA regions of humans, dogs and species as distant as elephant and wallaby are nearly identical. These regions of what were once called junk have been dubbed "conserved non-genic sequences", or CNGs, a reference to how they are not conventional genes.

Prof Antonarakis said: "I suspect that mutations in CNGs may contribute to numerous genetic disorders." Defects in CNGs could result in illness while the symptoms of Down's syndrome, caused by an extra copy of a chromosome, might be linked to the presence of additional CNGs.

"Many laboratories are now working on identifying pathogenic mutations," he said.

[f.Christian]

Main Entry: caste
Pronunciation: 'kast also 'käst
Function: noun
Etymology: Portuguese casta, literally, race, lineage, from feminine of casto pure, chaste, from Latin castus
Date: 1613
1 : one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism that restrict the occupation of their members and their association with the members of other castes
2 a : a division of society based on differences of wealth, inherited rank or privilege, profession, or occupation b : the position conferred by caste standing : PRESTIGE
3 : a system of rigid social stratification characterized by hereditary status, endogamy, and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law, or religion
4 : a specialized form (as the worker of an ant or bee) of a polymorphic social insect that carries out a particular function in the colony
- caste·ism /'kas-"ti-z&m/ noun

[PatrickHenry]

P L A C E M A R K E R

[f.Christian]

hugs ... watch your back !

[Junior]

You, my dear, have complete control over your own responses; and it is one's own postings that get one banned. There is no way on God's green Earth that anyone else can get you banned. If you were truly a conservative, you'd realize that one must take responsibility for one's actions.

[js1138]

If you cared about the truth you would take note of who started the name calling on this thread in post number 14:

That is the kind of arrogance and uninformed nonsense that evolutionists have been spewing and has been completely refuted by science. Only evos would be so stupid and/or dishonest to claim that 95% of DNA is junk just there so they could prove their stupid theory. Evolution has done more harm to science and consequently killed numerous people with their dishonest arrogance

I don't claim complete innocence, except tha I have never approved of thread pulling except when outsiders post stuff for the purpose of embarrassng FR (usually political rather than science oriented). If you don't want to be banned, then don't associate with people who call Catholics atheists, and don't associate with people who can't accept the possibility that all conservatives are not Christian fundamentalists.

[DittoJed2]

The thread is yours f.Christian. Cya around.

[f.Christian]

The govt - courts - media - schools are ... 100 % liberal - evolution --- you support them !

[VadeRetro]

In case you forgot you were the one who jumped in with your smart ass comments... So at this point butt out.

Courageous of you to pull that just after I'd signed off for a bit. A quick read back shows that I was in conversation when you posted to me. That would make you the buttinski by most accounts.

I'm relieved that so far no one is banning anybody based upon your objective, dispassionate analysis. You don't have enough truth in you to accurately describe a game of tic-tac-toe.

[VadeRetro]

It is a rotten shame that not one piece can be posted on anything to do with DNA that isn't turned into a philosophical marathon; worse yet, the same cast of characters always seem to bloviate back and forth until the debate becomes a donnybrook.

I quite agree, really. It got very back back in June when one ALS hit the crevo threads. Now banned, he's on another site trying to play proxy puppet-master. However, he's running out of strings that reach all the way here.

[VadeRetro]

Oh wait, I didn't make the "A" list, so I shouldn't be complaining.

I'm number two! I'm number two! (Oh, wait! There's a bad double-entendre, there.)

[f.Christian]

Main Entry: 2untouchable
Function: noun
Date: 1909
: one that is untouchable; specifically : a member of a large formerly segregated hereditary group in India having in traditional Hindu belief the quality of defiling by contact a member of a higher caste

Main Entry: 1un·touch·able
Pronunciation: "&n-'t&-ch&-b&l
Function: adjective
Date: 1567
1 a : forbidden to the touch : not to be handled

b : exempt from criticism or control

2 : lying beyond reach
3 : disagreeable or defiling to the touch

[PatrickHenry]

Just don't forget who's number one around here.

[VadeRetro]

Pl: Untouchables. Cool TV show from late 50s starring Robert Stack as Elliot Ness.

[VadeRetro]

Forgettable Kevin Costner movie that at least had Sean Connery for a while.

[VadeRetro]

Just don't forget who's number one around here.

Hah! I might be ahead of you by now if they hadn't read-protected the ratings. (A "Christian" site with read-protected threads!)

[PatrickHenry]

A "Christian" site with read-protected threads!

Read-protected? How strange! Sounds like a front for a kiddie-porn swapping operation.

[f.Christian]

You would know ... wouldn't you !

[RightWingNilla]

Forgettable Kevin Costner movie that at least had Sean Connery for a while.

DeNiro made a pretty good Capone.

[VadeRetro]

DeNiro? I'm remembering Danny DeVito, but I'll admit the memory looks ridiculous.

[VadeRetro]

On the one hand, you're right. It was DeNiro. But if he'd been that good a Capone, I wouldn't remember him looking and sounding like Danny DeVito.