"Junk" DNA is Integral

The ENCODE consortium published results in Nature and Genome Research that suggest that the received view of how DNA functions is incorrect. The received view is that it is composed of a small number of active genes that do all the important work, and they are separated by large tracks of inactive junk DNA that is just a random mish-mash of outmoded genetic code that no longer serves any purpose.

Instead, ENCODE has demonstrated that "The majority of the genome is copied, or transcribed, into RNA, which is the active molecule in our cells, relaying information from the archival DNA to the cellular machinery." In short, most of it is not junk. This will broaden the potential for genetic discovery.

Here is a press release published at NIH.