Junk D N A?

Our commercial biotampering is leading us into unknown and probably shark-infested waters. It's both the good news and the bad news. As an example, the United States Human Genome Project announced a couple of years ago that we had identified and codified all of the some 30,000 genes in the human DNA. But that number represents only about 1-5% of all known DNA. The rest is so-called junk DNA. What's up with that?



In molecular biology, junk DNA is a provisional label for the portions of the DNA sequence of a chromosome or a genome for which no function has yet been identified. Scientists fully expect to find functions for some, but definitely not all, of this provisionally classified collection. Provisional! Provisional you say? And Junk which just might not be junk?



How smart are we anyway?



Just because we don't understand the purpose of the remaining 95-99% of our genetic make up doesn't mean it's worthless or junk. But, I guess getting 30,000 genes figured out is a start. And maybe we should keep our eye on what's "out there" as well as what's "in here" because they are all one. And to do that, we have to be knowledgeable about sun spots!



Sun spots?



Insurance actuarials can tell you that people born in December have a longevity advantage. Since I was born in November, my odds are too bad either. A child born in December was conceived in March. Now follow along here. Embryos conceived in March receive lower levels of solar radiation in the womb. Yes, that's very important because there will be less mutations of the DNA when the embryo is most susceptible. Then, since the last trimester is Oct-Dec. the womb is exposed to lower ultra violet radiation (UVR) which has the same effect on the babies DNA.



Bottom line? There's a definite relationship between increased solar radiation and genetic mutations in the womb and we'll probably once day come to udnerstand that there really is no JUNK DNA. The Creator of the universe didn't create any junk. We've simply erred in our ignorance and called certain things junk when in fact they are not.