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MOLECULAR EXAMPLE. "Research is also uncovering molecular examples of exaptation. For instance, genetic material left behind by viruses now plays an important role in mammalian pregnancy. While an exaptation is co-opted from another or no apparent use, an adaptation is constructed by natural selection for its current use." http://www.livescience.com/39688-exaptation.html View in LinkedIn

WORK IN PROGRESS. "An international research project called the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) was set up along the same lines as the genome research project. The ultimate target is to analyse every protein in every tissue – including their changes over time and variants of the basic form. This undertaking would mean analysing 500,000, possibly even a million proteins." https://lnkd.in/eKcDV6b View in LinkedIn

MOLECULAR EXAMPLE. "Research is also uncovering molecular examples of exaptation. For instance, genetic material left behind by viruses now plays an important role in mammalian pregnancy. While an exaptation is co-opted from another or no apparent use, an adaptation is constructed by natural selection for its current use." http://www.livescience.com/39688-exaptation.html View in LinkedIn

92% PICTURE. "The human organism is made up of at least 18,097 different proteins, according to a study led by Bernhard Küster from Technische Universität München (TUM) and published in the May 2014 issue of the scientific journal Nature. Another study published in the same journal issue by a team led by Akhilesh Pandey from Johns Hopkins University in the US arrived at the slightly lower figure of 17,294 proteins." https://lnkd.in/eKcDV6b View in LinkedIn

"EXAPTATION is a term used in evolutionary biology to describe a trait that has been co-opted for a use other than the one for which natural selection has built it. For example, the earliest feathers belonged to dinosaurs not capable of flight. So, they must have first evolved for something else. Researchers have speculated early feathers may have been used for attracting mates or keeping warm. But later on, feathers became essential for modern birds’ flight." https://lnkd.in/eW-nNHx View in LinkedIn

DOGMA BUST. "One gene can encode more than one protein (even up to 1,000). The human genome contains about 21,000 protein-encoding genes, but the total number of proteins in human cells is estimated to be between 250,000 to one million." No more one gene, one protein. https://lnkd.in/eaJ6nXS View in LinkedIn

SOME FUNCTIONALITY. "Over the years, researchers have found evidence to suggest that junk DNA may provide some form of functional activity. Some lines of evidence suggest that fragments of what were originally non-functional DNA have undergone the process of exaptation throughout evolution. Exaptation refers to the acquisition of a function through means other than natural selection." https://lnkd.in/eZHPYqA View in LinkedIn

PROFOUND EFFECT. "It appears that as a whole these sequences, once regarded as “junk DNA,” have had a profound effect in shaping our genome." Hardly junk. https://lnkd.in/eW3mbzE View in LinkedIn

JUNK HAS USES. "Probably for the very reason that nearly every household has a junk drawer: weak purifying selection (read, lack of motivation to clean up), combined with the hunch that “this stuff might come in handy someday.” https://lnkd.in/e6q2jTP View in LinkedIn

WHY KEEP JUNK? "Considering that the human body carries out ~10,000 billion cell divisions in a lifetime, the replication and maintenance of this viral junk heap requires a considerable amount of energy and resources. So why do we keep it around?" http://schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2014/06/retroviruses-the-placenta-and-the-genomic-junk-drawer.html View in LinkedIn