Maths encyclopedia and lessons  
Search

Mathematics Encyclopedia and Lessons

 
     
 

Lessons

Popular
Subjects

algebra
arithmetic
calculus
equations
geometry
differential equations
trigonometry
number theory
probability theory
more
 

References

applied mathematics
mathematical games
mathematicians
more
 
 

Noncoding DNA

(Redirected from Noncoding)

In genetics, noncoding DNA describes DNA which does not contain instructions for making proteins (or other cell products such as RNAs). In eukaryotes, a large percentage of many organism's genomes are noncoding. Some noncoding DNA is involved in regulating the activity of coding regions. However, much of this DNA has no known function and is sometimes referred to as "junk DNA".

Recent evidence suggests that "junk DNA" may in fact be employed by proteins created from coding DNA. An experiment concerning the relationship between introns and coded proteins provided evidence for a theory that "junk DNA" is just as important as coding DNA. This experiment consisted of damaging a portion of noncoding DNA in a plant which resulted in a significant change in the leaf structure because structural proteins depending on information contained in introns was incorrect.

See also

External links

01-04-2007 01:18:14
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org
under the GNU Free Documentation License. How to see transparent copy