Worlds Apart ...........................................................................................................................................

35 The
Origin of Cells .................................................................................................................................35 Genetic
Recombination ...........................................................................................................................37 The
Emergence of Complex Organisms .................................................................................................37 Chromatin
................................................................................................................................................38 Chromatin-
Associated RNAs ..................................................................................................................42 Early Models of
RNAs in Nuclear Architecture .....................................................................................43 Heterogeneous
Nuclear RNA ..................................................................................................................44 Heroes or
Fools? ......................................................................................................................................45 Further
Reading ......................................................................................................................................46 Chapter 5
Strange Genomes, Strange Genetics .......................................................................................................47
Repetitive DNA .......................................................................................................................................47
Controlling Elements ...............................................................................................................................49
Paramutation, Imprinting and Transinduction ........................................................................................ 51 The
Bithorax ‘Complex Locus’ ...............................................................................................................52
Transvection ............................................................................................................................................53
Epigenetic Modifiers ...............................................................................................................................54 The
Britten and Davidson Model ............................................................................................................54 Boolean
Models of Combinatorial Control .............................................................................................56 Processed
RNAs as Global Regulators ...................................................................................................56 Out on a
Limb .........................................................................................................................................58 Further
Reading ......................................................................................................................................58 Chapter 6
The Age of Aquarius ............................................................................................................................... 61
Recombinant DNA and ‘Gene Cloning’ ................................................................................................. 61
Enabling Technologies ............................................................................................................................62 DNA
Sequencing .....................................................................................................................................64 The Gold
Rushes .....................................................................................................................................65 HOX
Genes ..............................................................................................................................................67
Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressors.........................................................................................................69
Immunology and Monoclonal Antibodies ..............................................................................................69
Biotechnological Exploitation .................................................................................................................70 Cell-
Free DNA Amplification and Shotgun Cloning ..............................................................................70 A World of
Proteins .................................................................................................................................71 Further
Reading ......................................................................................................................................72 Chapter 7 All
That Junk ...........................................................................................................................................73 The C-
Value Enigma ...............................................................................................................................73 Duplication
and Transposition ................................................................................................................73 Mutational Load,
Nonsense DNA, Nonsense RNA ................................................................................75 ‘Neutral’
Evolution ..................................................................................................................................76 Conservation
and Selection .....................................................................................................................78 Junk
DNA ................................................................................................................................................79 Selfish
DNA .............................................................................................................................................81 Genes-in-
Pieces! ......................................................................................................................................82 Not
Junk? .................................................................................................................................................85 Further
Reading .......................................