Re:Tiny fern has the largest genome of any organism on Earth
by hollerith on Saturday June 08, 2024 @07:44PM
(#40620901)
But it is true that huge amounts of our genome don't do anything. There are sequences where the same letter or string repeats thousands of times. There are many copies of things that have accumulated mutations that make them non-functional.
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Re:Tiny fern has the largest genome of any organism on Earth
by dleeftink on Saturday June 08, 2024 @08:49PM
(#40621166)
The idea that repeated sequences in certain genomes are non-functional or 'junk' is questionable, as they provide additional encapsulation to chromosomes with cell nuclei (a sort of fault tolerance).[0]
[0]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S108495212...
Re:Tiny fern has the largest genome of any organism on Earth
by timschmidt on Saturday June 08, 2024 @11:27PM
(#40621783)
Computer architectures sometimes necessitate no-ops under certain circumstances to facilitate functionality. Even though they're no-ops, they're not useless. To the contrary, they have very specific and required uses, which is why they exist.
Evolution works on integrated systems, not parts. Which goes a long way toward explaining why life doesn't seem to have any single-use components - everything serves multiple purposes. We just don't understand them all yet.