“Junk” DNA Holds Our Genome Together

The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) plays a key role in a recent study on non-coding DNA. Image courtesy of Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0.



Joel Kontinen

If you thought satellite DNA was junk, you might need to think again. Science Daily suggests that it “plays a crucial role in holding the genome together.”

Researchers are increasingly finding use for non-coding DNA.

Professor Yukiko Yamashita and colleagues published a paper in the journal eLife, disclosing their findings.

They suggest that pericentromeric satellite DNA, once dismissed as junk, “performs the vital function of ensuring that chromosomes bundle correctly inside the cell's nucleus, which is necessary for cell survival.”

The researchers noticed that if they cut off a protein called DI from the cells of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), germ cells would die and the banana munchers would thus have no offspring.

This protein is known to bind to satellite DNA.

While Prof. Yamashita thinks that we can credit evolution for preserving pericentromeric satellite DNA, which “consists of a very simple, highly repetitive sequence of genetic code,” intelligent design is a far better explanation.

Several recent studies have found important functions for “genetic junk”. (See examples here, here and here.)

Source:

University of Michigan. 2018. Scientists discover a role for 'junk' DNA. Science Daily. (11 April).

Intelligent DNA Makes Use of Sound Waves And Quantum Mechanics

New research suggests that DNA is a lot more complicated than this. Image courtesy of Richard Wheeler, Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).




Joel Kontinen

Gone are the old Darwinian days when parts of our DNA – and that of other organisms – were summarily dismissed as junk.

The tide has turned, and researchers are finding more uses for non-coding DNA.

And they are beginning to understand that DNA is much more complicated than they dared to believe.

A paper recently published in the journal Nature Communications by researchers at the University of Glasgow “describes how double-stranded DNA splits using delocalized sound waves that are the hallmark of quantum effects.”

An article posted on Phys.org provides some background information:

“DNA contains the code to life and holds a blueprint for each and every living thing on earth. Dedicated enzymes responsible for making new proteins read the code by splitting the double strand in order to access the information. One of the big outstanding questions of biology has been how these enzymes find the initial hole or ‘bubble’ in the double strand to start reading the code.”

The article goes on to say:

“Dr Mario González Jiménez, researcher, explains, ‘It is believed that DNA has regions where a specific sequence of bases modifies the stiffness of the double helix favouring the formation of bubbles. This causes a break of the weak bonds between the strands showing the transcription and replication enzymes where to start their task.’ "

The researchers used a laser to test whether they could detect any “sound-like bubbles” in DNA.

They could. As researcher Thomas Harwood puts it,

"The sound waves in DNA are not your ordinary sounds waves. They have a frequency of a few terahertz or a billion times higher than a human or a dog can hear!"

This is certainly not a Darwinian explanation. Real biology is really complicated, and bears all the hallmarks of intelligent design.

Source:

University of Glasgow. 2016. Sound-like bubbles whizzing around in DNA are essential to life Phys.org. (2 June).