tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post3239696296029267167..comments2024-03-27T14:50:47.345-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: A Poll: How Much of the Human Genome Is Junk?Larry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-89630349384896116312011-05-24T17:54:06.450-04:002011-05-24T17:54:06.450-04:00but even those are useful at the social/cognitive ...<i>but even those are useful at the social/cognitive level because we can use them as molecular/genetic clocks!</i><br /><br />And archaeologists use middens to learn a great deal about ancient cultures, but a midden is still a pile of garbage, even with an unintended use for it discovered hundreds of years later.TheBrummellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973380652057861796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-87393496980765632992011-05-23T22:40:31.612-04:002011-05-23T22:40:31.612-04:00depends on your definition of junk.
if junk DNA i...depends on your definition of junk.<br /><br />if junk DNA is dna that is not eventually transcribed into functional protein, then it is very very high.<br /><br />but so much of our genome is dedicated to other important DNA related functions, and so I tend not to think of the rest of the genome as 'junk'.<br /><br />then there are the totally useless regions of DNA, such as pseudogenes. but even those are useful at the social/cognitive level because we can use them as molecular/genetic clocks!UCLAstudentnoreply@blogger.com