Genomic Elements in Health, Disease and Evolution Junk DNA
This book provides a thorough review of various non-coding genomic elements and discusses in depth their role in health, disease and evolution. It begins with an exploration of non-coding RNA molecules miRNAs, piRNAs, LncRNAs and transposable elements as
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Genomic Elements in Health, Disease and Evolution Junk DNA
Genomic Elements in Health, Disease and Evolution
Kyriacos Felekkis Konstantinos Voskarides Editors
Genomic Elements in Health, Disease and Evolution Junk DNA
Editors Kyriacos Felekkis Department of Life and Health Sciences and University of Nicosia Medical School University of Nicosia Nicosia, Cyprus
Konstantinos Voskarides Department of Biological Sciences Molecular Medicine Research Center University of Cyprus Nicosia, Cyprus
ISBN 978-1-4939-3069-2 ISBN 978-1-4939-3070-8 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-3070-8
(eBook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015950479 Springer New York Heidelberg Dordrecht London © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer Science+Business Media LLC New York is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
Although the term “junk” DNA was used since the early 1960s, the term’s origin was attributed to Susumo Ohno who officially used the term to describe pseudogenes’ sequences resulted from gene duplication and subsequent mutagenesis events. Since then, the term was widely used to describe any non-coding sequence of the genome. Today, “junk” DNA refers to any genomic sequence that does not play a functional role in the organism. The use of the term was accompanied by various unanswered questions: Why do we have so much “junk” DNA in our genome? Do these non-coding sequences have functional significance? The discovery of novel genomic elements in the recent years was a step forward in an attempt to address these issues. It appears that the percentage of the non-functional DNA is being significantly reduced as more and more functions are attributed to those noncoding regions of the genome. Despite the continuous shrinkage of the nonfunctional portion of the genome, it is believed that a significant part of the genome is indeed non-functional. In this book, we attempt to provide a tho
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