Just like in our DNA...

[Tom Loredo]

Martijn Faassen wrote:
> 
> The trouble with junk DNA is that it doesn't seem to code for *any* active
> RNA or protein in the cell. So it's unlikely junk DNA consists of
> control structures.

Well, it seems we're all nonexperts who have gone far afield in this
thread, but I must say I don't follow this line of reasoning at all.
In fact, as I mentioned already in this thread, there is a lot of
research in the biophysics community based on the premise that
the noncoding DNA *is* in fact a control structure---chemicals
bonding to noncoding regions appear to trigger the expression of adjacent
coding regions.  The noncoding regions are thus control structures
that let the environment influence gene expression.

The speaker at our colloquium last week spoke of this as if it
were a broadly accepted viewpoint, but not being in the community
myself I can't say whether it's highly theoretical or not.

Peace,
Tom Loredo