Buffering: a Possible Passive-homeostasis Role for Redundant DNA

✍ Scribed by Alexander E. Vinogradov

• Book ID: 102613767
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 112 KB
• Volume: 193
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5193
• DOI: 10.1006/jtbi.1997.0629

✦ Synopsis

A new general role for redundant (apparently non-coding) DNA is speculated: buffering the effect of fluctuations in intra-cellular solute composition on chromatin condensation state in its condensed form and on binding of DNA-tropic proteins and other ligands in its decondensed form. The "buffering" DNA performing such passive-homeostasis (energy-independent) function, can provide selective advantage in ecological niches with a low energy supply.