Nothing new in DNA information
The breakthrough in thinking was reported in various national media, both print and broadcast, as well as various science magazines. NBC News reported that the new discoveries were released in 40 research papers in early September. A search of the Internet will bring up various articles referencing the new thinking.
The Sept. 30 Editor’s Notebook by Terry Ross (“New discovery about DNA flips our view of life”) had no new information whatsoever! The function of so-called junk DNA has been known for years.
The junk DNA codes for micro-RNA, also called small nuclear RNA. Most genes are composed of alternating sequences called introns and exons. During the transcription of DNA into messenger RNA, one or the other is cut out and discarded — I forget which, but let’s say it’s the exons that are discarded.
The micro-RNA serves as a template when the introns are recombined to form the messenger RNA. Different micro-RNAs result in different arrangements of the introns in the final messenger RNA. This process is called “alternative splicing.”
For instance, this is one reason why your muscles get bigger and stronger when you lift weights. The stress you place on your muscles causes different micro-RNAs to be transcribed, which results in bigger and stronger proteins that become incorporated into your muscles.
It’s also the reason why pigmy’s are different from Watusis even though they have essentially the same genes, why blacks are different from whites, even though they have essentially the same genes, or why the Irish are different from the Swedes, even though they have essentially the same genes.
As the old saying goes: it ain’t what you’ve got that counts — it’s how you use it. Sorry, you commie-liberals out there — your philosophy of absolute equality of the races of men has no grounding in scientific fact.
Anyway, Mr. Editor, the next time you write about “scientific breakthroughs”, please included references to the scientific literature, so that we can look them up to find out what this so-called “breakthrough” is all about. Very important!
Stan Lenihan
Somerton
