90% of human genome is not coding for any protein...then why do we need them???

Question

wat is the function of most of the DNA sequence??

Answer 1

It's actually closer to 98% that is non-coding. At lot of it is junk, just not as much as once thought. Even though only 1.5 to 2% of the genome codes for protein, probably most of it is transcribed into RNA.

In terms of total number of bases, 35% of the genome is just copies of L1 retrotransposons. In terms of copy number, ALU elements are the most numerous with over a million copies in the genome with another one cropping up with each generation. Add in some other junk like microsatellite repeats (stuff like ATATATATATATATATATAT) and processed pseudo genes (looks like it could be a gene but doesn't make a protein) and old retroviruses that are no longer active and you'll have most of the genome.

There are genes that only make RNA. The ~1000 microRNA genes in humans make small pieces of RNA 20-24 nt long. But, they are absolutely essential for life even though they don't make a protein because they regulate how the protein coding genes are turned on and off at a specific time and in specific tissues.

As for what the rest does? We don't know. The guess is that there are regulatory elements dispersed throughout. We know now that it isn't the number of genes that separates a simple worm from a complex primate. We have about the same number of genes as a fruit fly but our complexity comes from how we use them. It is in the different combination of genes that are turned on and off that leads to more complex organisms.

Answer 2

Not all the genoma codifies only for proteins...and as far as I can remember, nobody has stated thet 90% of it, codifies for nothing...that is not exact, nor true..
We will need those dormant introns sometime in our life....so many million years of evolution, did not bring those codons for free....when they are needed, given the case, they transform in exons and perform the transcription of the required sequence, according to the circumstances (new enzymes when a new substrate appears. or getting rid a from a new toxine in order to survive etc) are good examples-.-Nothing in genetics is for free,,,, in comparison for instance with so many "dormant" parts of the brain, for example, they DO have a function as well... and coming back to the exons (active parts of the coiled double helix) and introns (dormant parts of the genoma). they codify something, in the very moment they have a definite nucleotide sequence..
A different thing altogether, is that we have been unable to explain the whole physiology of the genoma sequence..but there is a roll in life, for every triplet of bases that is present there, I can assure you..
The genoma is there for some powerful evolutive reason...and I dont think its decreasing...at all----

Answer 3

A lot of genes are left over from long ago ancestors. They are no longer needed to produce a human but remain dormant in the DNA.

Studying these dormant or "fossil" genes helps reinforce and refine the theory of evolution.

When you ask a science question, it should be "how" did it get that way, not "why" is it that way. Why implies planning or design and there is no such thing in science.