Posted: Feb 28, 2017 5:32 pm
Calilasseia wrote:What I'd like to know, is why a gene purportedly not associated with a peptide product, in the case of CLLU1, is being used as a diagnostic marker for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia? Without a gene product to test for, it's difficult to imagine how this gene can be detectably up-regulated in individuals with the disease.
Many genes are RNA genes, they produce transcripts that yield functional RNAs. They never go on to be translated into protein, but they are functional even in their RNA form.
For example, RNA regulatory elements are quite common. They have sequences that bind to known protein-coding genes and inhibit transcription. It is estimated the human genome has over 10.000 functional RNA coding genes.
http://sandwalk.blogspot.dk/2011/05/whats-in-your-genome.html
The case for junk DNA:
http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004351
On junk and functional non-coding RNA:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25674102