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From: John Harshman <john.harshman@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: talk.origins
Subject: Re: Junk DNA fraction and mutational load
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2025 17:59:33 +0530
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On 1/27/25 11:25 PM, MarkE wrote:
> Dan Graur has argued that for purifying selection to prevent mutational 
> load runaway, the functional fraction of the genome must be constrained 
> (to 10-15%?).
> 
> If the mutation rate was halved, would the allowable functional fraction 
> double? Or is it not that simple?
> 
> I posted a comment on Sandwalk criticising the latest Long Story Short 
> video's treatment of the c-value paradox: 
> https://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2025/01/intelligent-design-creationists-launch.html
> 
> I also posted a query on this paper which argues against Graur's 
> conclusion: "Mutational Load and the Functional Fraction of the Human 
> Genome"
> https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/12/4/273/5762616?login=false
> 
> Larry Moran responded with "Graur refereed that paper and he now agrees 
> with the general conclusion that the mutation load argument does not put 
> a severe constraint on the fraction of functional DNA in the human genome."
> 
> Is this now generally accepted?
> 
> Note though the paper referenced has this conclusion: "We stress that 
> we, in this work, take no position on the actual proportion of the human 
> genome that is likely to be functional. It may indeed be quite low, as 
> the contemporary evidence from species divergence and intraspecies 
> polymorphism data suggests. Many of the criticisms of the ENCODE claim 
> of 80% functionality (e.g., Doolittle 2013; Graur 2013) strike us as 
> well founded. Our conclusion is simply that an argument from mutational 
> load does not appear to be particularly limiting on f."
> 
Yes, the mutational load argument for junk DNA is now generally 
rejected. The remaining arguments, however, are conclusive. 90% of your 
genome is junk.