More “Candy” Found in Junk DNA

Powerful regulators that play a crucial role – this is how non-coding sections of DNA are now being described.  A story in Science Daily says that these regions of “junk DNA” once dismissed as “gene deserts” actually orchestrate the expression of genes during development.
    In a related paper in PNAS,¹ researchers found regulatory roles for many conserved noncoding elements (CNEs).  “We identify nearly 15,000 conserved sites that likely serve as insulators, and we show that nearby genes separated by predicted CTCF sites² show markedly reduced correlation in gene expression,” they said.  “These sites may thus partition the human genome into domains of expression.”  They found one family that might have a “broad role” for gene expression, and other “striking examples of novel functional elements.”
    This realization is opening eyes to a new realm of genetic marvels.  “Right now it’s like being a kid in a candy warehouse,” said one geneticist.  Others who looked at transposons and jumping genes as nuisances that were “messing things up” now see them as useful.  Evolutionists are invoking the E word in various ways.  Transposons might be a “major vehicle for evolutionary novelty,” said one, while another remarked about emerging new view of junk DNA, “It’s funny how quickly the field is now evolving.”

¹Xie et al, “Systematic discovery of regulatory motifs in conserved regions of the human genome, including thousands of CTCF insulator sites,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 10.1073/pnas.0701811104, published online before print April 18, 2007.
²From the above paper, “CTCF, a protein containing 11 zinc-finger domains, is a major factor implicated in vertebrate insulator activities.  An insulator is a DNA sequence element that prevents a regulatory protein binding to the control region of one gene from influencing the transcription of neighboring genes.  When placed between an enhancer and a promoter, an insulator can block the interaction between the two.  Several dozen insulator sites have been characterized, and almost all have been shown to contain CTCF binding sites.  In some cases, the CTCF site has been directly shown to be both necessary and sufficient for enhancer blocking activities in heterologous settings.  The known CTCF sites show considerable sequence variation, and no clear consensus sequence has been derived.”

It’s not funny.  For decades, Darwinian preconceptions have held back a promising field of genetic research with their falsified notion that most of the genome is composed of evolutionary leftovers.  Now that we see the design that was there all along, can we get on with what science should have been doing?  Away with this new plot line that junk DNA is a source of “evolutionary novelty.”  Darwinians, you have been exposed as usurpers.  Get out of the way.  The field is not evolving.  Intelligent design is taking back its rights.