Anyone interested in the topic of “junk DNA” should go and read this fine piece of detective work by Dan Graur immediately!
http://judgestarling.tumblr.com/post/64504735261/the-origin-of-junk-dna-a-historical-whodunnit
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In one sense, I am happy that there is enough interest in the concept of “junk DNA” (and by extension, my area of research in genome size evolution) that the subject gets regular media attention. A few months ago, it was all about the ENCODE project and its “finding” of “function” for 80% of [...] Here’s a short compilation I made for use in a recent presentation on ENCODE and the claim that 80% of the human genome is functional. These are quotes from ENCODE project leaders and the senior editor of Nature. It is not surprising that the story presented by the media was that ENCODE had destroyed [...] There has been lots of talk (including some in the media; see here and here and here) about the Graur et al. (2013) paper in GBE which was critical of ENCODE, much of it focusing on the tone of the paper. While the Graur et al. (2013) paper certainly doesn’t pull any punches in [...] Say what you want about the tone of the Graur et al. (2013) paper in Genome Biology and Evolution, but it has people talking. Including Ewan Birney, the lead scientist of the ENCODE project and the primary spokesperson for ENCODE in the media fiasco describing the “death of junk DNA”. Most recently, Birney was [...] I expect that we will be seeing several harsh critiques of ENCODE’s extraordinary claims about function in the human genome and the equally incredible mega-hype associated with the project. I know of at least one more that is forthcoming from a heavy-hitter in the field, but as a snarky smackdown, it will be very [...] Max Libbrecht is a PhD student at the University of Washington, and was one of the several hundred researchers involved in the ENCODE project. I have already mentioned Max because of his important comments on ENCODE and junk DNA elsewhere on the interwebs. I mentioned that he would be welcome to write a guest [...] Here’s a very interesting quote, provided by Faye Flam at Knight Science Journalism. (Emphasis mine) I decided … I would go back to ENCODE biologist John Stamatoyannopoulos, who was quoted in the first wave of news. He said he thought the skeptics hadn’t fully understood the papers, and that some of the activity measured [...] In addition to the cringe-inducing cartoon sponsored by Nature, here are some other videos that have been put out about the ENCODE results. You tell me who you think is responsible for propagating the claim that ENCODE found that “80% of the genome is functional” and that it has overturned the notion of “junk [...] In terms of articles on the topic of junk DNA, New Scientist has consistently been among the most even-handed and accurate. Here is a list of examples from the magazine: The ever deepening mystery of the human genome Don’t junk the ‘junk DNA’ just yet Why ‘junk DNA’ may be useful after all Unknown [...] |
T. Ryan Gregory 
I am an evolutionary biologist specializing in genome size evolution at the University of Guelph in Canada.
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