So-called junk DNA plays critical role in mammalian development

Nearly half of our DNA has been written off as junk, the discards of evolution: Sidelined or broken genes, viruses that got stuck in our genome and were dismembered or silenced, none of it relevant to the human organism or ...

Slow motion waves of jumping genes in the human genome

Nature is full of parasites—organisms that flourish and proliferate at the expense of another species. Surprisingly, these same competing roles of parasite and host can be found in the microscopic molecular world of the ...

Decoding of tarsier genome reveals ties to humans

Small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, with enormous eyes and an appetite for meat, tarsiers are an anomaly of nature. They are also our distant cousins, according to scientists at Washington University School of ...

New research illustrates how genome adapts to transposon invasion

Small, mobile sequences of DNA left over from viruses, called transposons or "jumping genes" because of their ability to move around the genome, pose a significant threat to the genetic integrity and stability of an organism. ...

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