Is our genome stupid?

March 10, 2001, to HMS Beagle,  Smart DNA

The statement "How such a small number of genes in an ocean of apparently irrelevant repeat elements could create an organism that could sequence its own DNA," from the Trends in Pharmacological Sciences commentary The Grand Design by Zoltan Szallasi, is strange in view of the fact that the only reason and goal of our existence is the survival, and therefore the replication, of the gene residents of our cells. These genes do need to sequence their DNA. They have but one drive and purpose, to replicate, and they do it well. And we might give them credit to "know" if an "irrelevant" repeat has a net beneficial contribution to their survival or not. The chromosomal symbiotic association of the genes in our cells has a very longtime experience in how to fulfill their "destiny".

DH