Introns Engineered for Genetic Repair

Scientists at Purdue University are using bacterial machines to treat cancer and other diseases.  These machines, called Group I introns, were thought to be useless:

Once thought of as genetic junk, introns are bits of DNA that can activate their own removal from RNA, which translates DNA’s directions for gene behavior.  Introns then splice the RNA back together.  Scientists are just learning whether many DNA sequences previously believed to have no function actually may play specialized roles in cell behavior.   (Emphasis added.)

Though the function of introns is still mysterious (see 02/02/2005 entry), they appear to be highly conserved in both archaea and eukarya, suggesting they are important.  Bacteria have Group I introns that do self-splicing.  Eukaryotes have Group II introns that are spliced by one of the most complex molecular machines in cells, the spliceosome (see 09/17/2004 entry).

Who was it that thought many DNA sequences had no function and were genetic junk?  It wasn’t creationists.  It was evolutionists who looked at treasuries of complex information with their distorted Charlie glasses and saw discarded leftovers of a slow, wasteful, careless evolutionary process.  Now they’re having to play catch-up as the truth sinks in.  Boot out the Darwin Party, the obstacles to scientific progress.