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Genetic Complexity Evolved Out Of 'Junk DNA'
Feb. 13, 2008
‘Junk DNA’ could hold the secret of the evolutionary origin of complex animals, according to new research from Dartmouth College (USA) and the University of Bristol (UK).
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, online, Feb. 11, claims to have solved this scientific riddle by analyzing the genomics of primitive living fishes such as sharks and lampreys and their spineless relatives, such as the sea squirts.
Explaining how vertebrates achieved their anatomical and genetic complexity has vexed scientists since the conception of evolutionary theory. Alysha Heimberg of Dartmouth College and her colleagues showed that microRNAs, a class of tiny molecules only recently discovered residing within what has usually been considered ‘junk DNA’, are hugely diverse in even the most lowly of vertebrates, but relatively few are found in the genomes of our invertebrate relatives.
She explained, “There was an explosive increase in the number of new microRNAs added to the genome of vertebrates and this is unparalleled in evolutionary history.” Co-author, Dr Philip Donoghue of Bristol University’s Department of Earth Sciences, continued, “Most of these new genes are required for the growth of organs that are unique to vertebrates, such as the liver, pancreas and brain. Therefore, the origin of vertebrates and the origin of these genes is no coincidence.”
This work was funded by the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).
Source: University of Bristol
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