Scientists have discovered that some tiny segments of RNA thought to be junk instead have a functional role in suppressing production of certain messenger RNAs and appear to help cells respond to ...

One of the most long-standing, fundamental mysteries of biology surrounds the poorly understood origins of introns. Introns are segments of noncoding DNA that must be removed from the genetic code ...

The sequences of nonsense DNA that interrupt genes could be far more important to the evolution of genomes than previously thought, according to researchers. Their study of the model organism Daphnia ...

Researchers have shown for the first time that non-coding parts of genes called introns can copy themselves and move around the genome. Nevertheless, these DNA sequences remain mysterious. Scientific ...

Scientists at the University of California, Davis have discovered that DNA sequences thought to be essential for gene activity can be expendable. Sequences once called junk sometimes call the shots ...