We are as worms

By PZ Myers

Genes in us multicellular eukaryotes are characterized by a peculiar feature: the DNA sequence is interrupted by stretches called introns that are transcribed into mRNA, but then cut out so that their sequence is not represented in the final protein product. The gene is spliced together out of portions called exons, excluding the introns, a bit of post-transcriptional editing that permits splice variants to be made, and that can increase the diversity of gene products. It's still a very strange and inefficient way to go about making proteins, though, and one that isn't necessary—bacteria, for instance, get along just fine without this intron nonsense.

Continue reading "We are as worms" (on Pharyngula)