Wednesday September 5th, 2012 – Bits of Mystery DNA, Far From ‘Junk,’ Play Crucial Role

“The human genome is packed with at least four million gene switches that reside in bits of DNA that once were dismissed as “junk” but that turn out to play critical roles in controlling how cells, organs and other tissues behave.”

…”As scientists delved into the “junk” – parts of the DNA that are not actual genes containing instructions for proteins – they discovered a complex system that controls genes. At...