Yeah, the dumpster, not the Thrift.
Oh, and ID is wrong.
From key proponent of junk DNA, University of Houston’s (human genome is mostly junk) Dan Graur,
RUBBISH DNA: THE FUNCTIONLESS FRACTION OF THE HUMAN GENOME
Abstract: Because genomes are products of natural processes rather than “intelligent design,” all genomes contain functional and nonfunctional parts. The fraction of the genome that has no biological function is called “rubbish DNA.” Rubbish DNA consists of “junk DNA,” i.e., the fraction of the genome on which selection does not operate, and “garbage DNA,” i.e., sequences that lower the fitness of the organism, but exist in the genome because purifying selection is neither omnipotent nor instantaneous. In this chapter, I (1) review the concepts of genomic function and functionlessness from an evolutionary perspective, (2) present a precise nomenclature of genomic function, (3) discuss the evidence for the existence of vast quantities of junk DNA within the human genome, (4) discuss the mutational mechanisms responsible for generating junk DNA, (5) spell out the necessary evolutionary conditions for maintaining junk DNA, (6) outline various methodologies for estimating the functional fraction within the genome, and (7) present a recent estimate for the functional fraction of our genome.
Introduction
While evolutionary biologists and population geneticists have been comfortable with the concept of genomic functionlessness for more than half a century, classical geneticists and their descendants have continued to exist in an imaginary engineered world, in which each and every nucleotide in the genome is assumed to have a function and evolution counts for naught. Under this pre-Darwinian mindset, for instance, … More.
So, Prof, if some of the “rubbish DNA” turns out to have a function, does that make design in nature more plausible? Oh? Oh, I see … like the arrow of time, it only goes one way. Thanks for clarification.
See also: Blocking “junk DNA” can prevent stroke damage. (So it must be doing something, right?)
Junk DNA hires a PR firm
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