Tag Archive for 'Junk DNA'

The human genome contains approximately half a million copies of LINE-1. Image credit: Baldwin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06947-z.

Scientists Reveal Structure of Ancient Virus-Like Genetic Element

Dec 18, 2023 by News Staff

The Long Interspersed Element-1 (LINE-1) retrotransposon is an ‘ancient genetic parasite’ that has written around one third of the human genome through...

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neandertals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Mauro Cutrona.

New Research Shows How Humans Lost Their Body Hair

Jan 6, 2023 by News Staff

Humans, whales, elephants, and naked mole-rats all share a somewhat rare trait for mammals: their bodies are covered with little to no hair. The common...

Danaus plexippus. Image credit: Gyulche1.

Study: Ancient Junk DNA Contributes to Diversity of Butterfly Wings

Oct 25, 2022 by News Staff

In the 1920s, biologists proposed that butterfly wing pattern diversity evolved as variations of a ground plan of pattern elements that vary in color,...

This image shows subcellular localization of ADRAM (red) in primary cortical neurons. Scale bar - 20 μm. Image credit: Wei et al., doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110546.

Study: Junk DNA Could Be Key to Extinguishing Fear-Related Memories

Mar 25, 2022 by News Staff

Queensland Brain Institute’s Dr. Timothy Bredy and colleagues have discovered an experience-induced non-coding RNA, named ADRAM (activity-dependent lncRNA...

CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing can cause hundreds of unintended mutations. Image credit: Lisichik.

Is Junk DNA What Makes Human Brain Unique?

Oct 11, 2021 by News Staff

In the genome of Homo sapiens, about 98% of DNA sequences are non-coding regions that were previously disregarded as ‘junk DNA.’ In fact, junk DNA...