The Functions of Introns: From Junk DNA to Designed DNA
.... In the past, evolutionary geneticists, once uncertain as to what this apparently superfluous DNA does, referred to introns and other noncoding DNA as "junk." Evidence is now being accumulated which indicates that much or most of this DNA may not be junk, but critical for life itself.65 If functions for most or all of the noncoding DNA is found, Darwinism would be without the raw material needed to produce new genes by mutations that can be selected for evolution to occur. Furthermore, much of this new information on the complexity of the genome elegantly provides evidence for both intelligent design and for the concept of irreducible complexity.
65 A. F. Smit, "The Origin of Interspaced Repeats in the Human Genome," Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 6, no. 6 (1996): 743-8.s; G. Berx, F. Nollet, K. Strumane, and F. van Roy, "An Efficient and Reliable Multiplex PCR-SSCP Mutation Analysis Test Applied to the Human E-cadherin Gene," Human Mutation 9, no. 6 (1997): 567-74; M. S. Clark and W. J. Wall, Clii-o?nosotiies (London: Chapman and Hall, 1996); and K. F. Schmidt, "A DNA Structure that Tags Genetic Junk?" Science News 144 (1993): 21.
.... In the past, evolutionary geneticists, once uncertain as to what this apparently superfluous DNA does, referred to introns and other noncoding DNA as "junk." Evidence is now being accumulated which indicates that much or most of this DNA may not be junk, but critical for life itself.65 If functions for most or all of the noncoding DNA is found, Darwinism would be without the raw material needed to produce new genes by mutations that can be selected for evolution to occur. Furthermore, much of this new information on the complexity of the genome elegantly provides evidence for both intelligent design and for the concept of irreducible complexity.
65 A. F. Smit, "The Origin of Interspaced Repeats in the Human Genome," Current Opinion in Genetics & Development 6, no. 6 (1996): 743-8.s; G. Berx, F. Nollet, K. Strumane, and F. van Roy, "An Efficient and Reliable Multiplex PCR-SSCP Mutation Analysis Test Applied to the Human E-cadherin Gene," Human Mutation 9, no. 6 (1997): 567-74; M. S. Clark and W. J. Wall, Clii-o?nosotiies (London: Chapman and Hall, 1996); and K. F. Schmidt, "A DNA Structure that Tags Genetic Junk?" Science News 144 (1993): 21.
