Now junk DNA "assists" evolution

Some excerpts from a recent Science Alert:

"Current theory doesn't tally with fossil evidence"

"Dr Greene, a Senior Lecturer in Molecular Genetics, said current evolutionary theory, which assumed biological lineages evolved by the slow accumulation of adaptive mutations, did not tally with the fossil record.

"However, the “Genomic Drive” theory provided a significant explanation for the way new species arose abruptly and periodically.

"The theory also fitted with fossil records which showed intermittent and long periods of stasis – where many species stood still or remained the same."

Here's Princeton:

Now researchers from Princeton University and Indiana University who have been studying the genome of a pond organism have found that junk DNA may not be so junky after all. They have discovered that DNA sequences from regions of what had been viewed as the "dispensable genome" are actually performing functions that are central for the organism. They have concluded that the genes spur an almost acrobatic rearrangement of the entire genome that is necessary for the organism to grow.

Remember when junk DNA "proved" Darwin's theory by being junk? It's not safe to forget that, because you have to believe two contradictory things at once for now.

More stories here at the Post-Darwinist on junk DNA.

See especially:

Junk DNA: Sorting through the trash

Junk DNA: I told you, keep those documents in the packaging ... are you listening NOW?

Junk RNA just like junk DNA? Stuff you should NOT have thrown out with the packaging?

Intelligent design vs. Darwinism: Junk DNA as the genes' antique shop?

By the way, junk DNA is the new vestigial organs - the ones you supposedly didn't need, but actually do.