Saved by junk DNA
Thursday, May 28, 2009 - 16:42
in Biology & Nature
Leuven, Belgium - VIB researchers linked to K.U.Leuven and Harvard University show that stretches of DNA previously believed to be useless 'junk' DNA play a vital role in the evolution of our genome. They found that unstable pieces of junk DNA help tuning gene activity and enable organisms to quickly adapt to changes in their environments.