a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by theadvancedapes

My biggest question re: this issue would be do we even have an adequate grasp of functional non-redundant DNA per genome? The ENCODE project just revealed that DNA formerly considered junk is actually functional. I personally don't know what the best approach is to measure complexity in evolution, however I do understand the central idea that the authors are trying to convey.





mk  ·  4343 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, there's no junk DNA. I work with microRNA. Until recently they were relagated to the junk DNA, and they are extremely potent regulators of gene expression. Nature doesn't tolerate waste, and it was silly to use language that suggests she does. :)