The research undermines the notion by biological pioneer Jacques Monod that ôWhat was true for E. Coli would be true for the elephantö (Mattick, 2004, p. 60). If the genetic matter serves as a regulatory mechanism for RNA and gene expression, scientists conclude that the old one protein, one gene credo may also be untrue. As Mattick (2004) maintains, ôThis new theory could explain why the structural and developmental complexity of organisms does not parallel their numbers of protein-code genes. It also carries important implications for future pharmaceutical and medical researchö (p. 60).
The work done on the human genome project shows that genes in eukaryotic cells are not connected blocks of protein-coding sequences. Instead, Mattick (2004) explains, they are more like ôàmosaics of exons (DNA sequences that encode fragments of proteins) interspersed with often vast tracks of intervening sequences, or introns, that do not code proteinö (p. 61). However, during the transcription process, the intronic RNA was felt to be discarded as waste, to be degraded or recycled. New studies show that this is not the case and that the intronic RNA may serve a genetic regulatory function among others. As Mattick (2004) explains, ôPut simply, the conundrum is this: less than 1.5 percent of the human genome encodes proteins, but most of it is transcribed into RNA. Either the human genome is replete with useless transcription, or these nonprotein-coding RNAs fulfill some unexpected functionö (p. 61). The findings related to the human genome project demonstrate that genes in human beings and other complex organisms do not encode protein but manufacture RNA with specific regulatory mechanisms.
The discovery of RNA regulatory mechanisms is a valid and significant finding for science and human development. As Mattick (2004) maintains of this new RNA discovery, ôThese RNAs may be transmitting a level of information that is crucial...