Re: Junk DNA: A hypothesis

From: Anon. (bob.ohara_at_NOSPAM.helsinki.fi)
Date: 01/30/05 

Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2005 15:30:10 -0500 (EST)

Tim Tyler wrote:
> William Morse <wdmorse@twcny.rr.com> wrote or quoted:
>
>
>>[...] And there is research that indicates that the amount of
>>noncoding DNA is subject to selection. I had seen an article in Science a
>>year or two ago addressing this question. I can't find that reference,
>>but I think it was work related to the research discussed in the article
>>at:
>>
>>http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=33451
>>
>>This research indicates that marginal environments favor heterozygosity
>>and more noncoding DNA - perhaps because these make for greater
>>evolvability. I do not know if similar results have been found by any
>>other researchers.
>
>
> It's a bit of a review. One of the articles it cites found
> levels of a transposon correlated to habitat arididty in barley.
>
> http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=18673
>
This is from a single transect, with 6 sampling points. I think I would
want to see a bit more replication before concluding anything - these
patterns could be purely historical accident.

This criticism could, I think be extended to the citing review - it
takes an adaptionist line (which is OK by me), but doesn't assess any
other possible explanation for the data: there's a frequent refrain of
"We have a pattern: it must be due to selection!".

Bob 

-- 
Bob O'Hara
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
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