Is the Human Genome Garbage?

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May 03, 2011, 02:50 ET

Biologist says no in new book The Myth of Junk DNA

SEATTLE, May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Forty years ago scientists discovered that more than 95% of our DNA does not encode proteins. Since then the non-protein-coding portion was labeled "junk" and attributed to molecular accidents that have accumulated in the course of evolution.

Now, biologist Dr. Jonathan Wells exposes The Myth of Junk DNA (Discovery Institute Press 2011) and shows that contrary to being just evolutionary flotsam and jetsam, much of our non-protein-coding DNA performs essential biological functions. Wells, author of the acclaimed Icons of Evolution, wrote The Myth of Junk DNA in order to highlight the increasingly abundant evidence from scientific literature and recent genome projects showing that "junk DNA" is but a myth.

"Wells has clearly done his homework. He cites hundreds of research articles as he describes the expanding story of non-coding DNA—the supposed 'junk DNA.' It is quite possibly the most thorough review of the subject available." – Dr. Ralph Seelke, Professor of Microbial Genetics and Cell Biology at University of Wisconsin-Superior.

"Wells's book not only informs its readers of very recent research results, but also encourages them to think objectively and clearly about a key discovery in biology and to approach biological research with more creativity," – Dr. Russell W. Carlson, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Georgia.

Jonathan Wells has two Ph.D.s, one in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley, and one in Religious Studies from Yale University. He has worked as a postdoctoral research biologist at the University of California at Berkeley and the supervisor of a medical laboratory in Fairfield, California. Dr. Wells is also the author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design (Regnery, 2006), Icons of Evolution: Why much of what we teach about evolution is wrong (Regnery Publishing, 2000), and Charles Hodge's Critique of Darwinism (Edwin Mellen Press, 1988).

SOURCE Discovery Institute