AUTHOR=Kapranov Philipp , St. Laurent Georges 

TITLE=Dark Matter RNA: Existence, Function, and Controversy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2012

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2012.00060

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2012.00060

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p>The mysteries surrounding the ∼97–98% of the human genome that does not encode proteins have long captivated imagination of scientists. Does the protein-coding, 2–3% of the genome carry the 97–98% as a mere passenger and neutral “cargo” on the evolutionary path, or does the latter have biological function? On one side of the debate, many commentaries have referred to the non-coding portion of the genome as “selfish” or “junk” DNA (Orgel and Crick, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B49">1980</xref>), while on the other side, authors have argued that it contains the real blueprint for organismal development (Penman, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B51">1995</xref>; Mattick, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B40">2003</xref>), and the mechanisms of developmental complexity. Thus, this question could be referred to without much exaggeration as the most important issue in genetics today.</p>