title: Unexpected conserved non-coding DNA blocks in mammals.
abstract: The significance of non-coding DNA is a longstanding riddle in the study of molecular evolution. Using a comparative genomics approach, Dermitzakis and colleagues have recently shown that at least some non-coding sequence, frequently ignored as meaningless noise, might bear the signature of natural selection. If functional, it could mark a turning point in the way we think about the evolution of the genome.
authors.affiliation: Ashworth Laboratories, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, Scotland, United Kingdom. Daniel.Gaffney@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Gaffney
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Keightley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019295:Computational Biology; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D021901:DNA, Intergenic