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Science 23 May 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5623, pp. 1246 - 1247
DOI: 10.1126/science.1085690
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Perspectives

GENOMICS:
Not Junk After All

Wojciech Makalowski

Repetitive elements called Alu elements constitute more than 10% of the human genome yet do not appear to code for proteins. In his Perspective, Makalowski discusses new work (Lev-Maor et al.) that sheds light on how Alu elements become inserted into the coding regions of genes resulting in the formation of new proteins and thus contributing to evolution.

The author is at the Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics and Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, PA 16802, USA. E-mail: wojtek{at}psu.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)