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GoGaslightYerself t1_j63b2ez wrote

Only about 2% of the human genome codes for protein synthesis. On the other hand, about 50% of human DNA is so-called "junk DNA" that has no apparent function. It's believed that much of this DNA originally came from viruses.

Roughly 10% of the human genome consists of about a million scattered copies of a single 286-base sequence (or "sentence") of this "junk DNA" called "Alu." It's the genomic equivalent of meaningless SPAM, repeated endlessly...

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NOVAbuddy t1_j63i0oz wrote

I always wonder if that junk DNA would do something if we still consumed for example, the Pleistocene megafauna. Like maybe if we ate paraceratherium liver our cells would have the molecular building blocks for our DNA make proteins we no longer have. What kind of organs and capabilities are locked up in that DNA that we can no longer access because we don’t have the raw inputs to make the code useful?

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GoGaslightYerself t1_j63jdhr wrote

> What kind of organs and capabilities are locked up in that DNA that we can no longer access because we don’t have the raw inputs to make the code useful?

I don't know and am not qualified to even guess. But being that so much of it is identical -- the same sequence repeated over and over (a million times in the case of Alu) -- I suspect it carries about as much useful information as a dial tone.

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geniice t1_j63z5bv wrote

> Roughly 10% of the human genome consists of about a million scattered copies of a single 286-base sequence (or "sentence") of this "junk DNA" called "Alu." It's the genomic equivalent of meaningless SPAM, repeated endlessly...

At least some of it controls gene expression. Beyond that the fact its highly conserved in primates suggests it does something.

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