Abstract Title
Why Do Introns Exist?
Additional Funding Sources
Our research is funded by Research Corporation for Science Advancement and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through Grant GBMF5263.10 and by National Institute of General Medical Sciences through Grant 1R15GM123446.
Abstract
Intron dynamics have continued to elude scientific investigation since their discovery in 1977. Their existence has been described as largely inefficient, and even evolutionary disadvantageous to the earliest of eukaryotes, but their presence has set a precedent in evolutionary biology for genomic adaptation. While used in the process of alternative splicing to produce new genetic products while also compressing the genome and also in the processes of genetic regulation many fundamental questions regarding the intron's survival and fundamental purpose within the central dogma throughout evolutionary history remains heavily debated. In the pursuit of understanding the fundamental necessity of intron mechanics within the central dogma of biology we derive a set of equations from a simple kinetics model applicable to testing the already established hypothesis that introns may act as a "reservoir of nucleotides" required to promote continued transcription. Preliminary tests utilizing the established data present in the literature and genomic records show positive preliminary results, but the ambiguity of the genomic data sets and lack of many kinetic variables leaves the model open for further testing.
Why Do Introns Exist?
Intron dynamics have continued to elude scientific investigation since their discovery in 1977. Their existence has been described as largely inefficient, and even evolutionary disadvantageous to the earliest of eukaryotes, but their presence has set a precedent in evolutionary biology for genomic adaptation. While used in the process of alternative splicing to produce new genetic products while also compressing the genome and also in the processes of genetic regulation many fundamental questions regarding the intron's survival and fundamental purpose within the central dogma throughout evolutionary history remains heavily debated. In the pursuit of understanding the fundamental necessity of intron mechanics within the central dogma of biology we derive a set of equations from a simple kinetics model applicable to testing the already established hypothesis that introns may act as a "reservoir of nucleotides" required to promote continued transcription. Preliminary tests utilizing the established data present in the literature and genomic records show positive preliminary results, but the ambiguity of the genomic data sets and lack of many kinetic variables leaves the model open for further testing.
Comments
W99