The HGP and Celera both said there were 30, 000 protein-coding genes, a mere one-third of previous estimates.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Pseudogene transcripts can be processed into short interfering RNAs that regulate coding genes through the RNAi pathway.

FORBES: The Myth ... of the Myth of Junk DNA

By contrast, the current estimate of the number of protein-coding genes in the human genome is 23, 000.

ECONOMIST: Genomics has not yet delivered the drugs, but it will

What they have found is that about 1, 800 protein-coding genes, some 7% of the total known, show signs of having been subject to recent natural selection.

ECONOMIST: Human evolution

Though the average bacterium has fewer than 5, 000 genes, compared with around 20, 000 protein-coding genes in the average mammal (bacteria do not go in much for RNA-only genes), there are lots of species of bacteria.

ECONOMIST: Inhuman genomes

This vast majority of genetic material known as functional noncoding DNA, mostly embedded within and around the genes, was thought to play an important but murky role in regulating how the coding genes go about their business.

FORBES: Arguing Over Junk: Scientists Attack Each Other as Media Flub 'DNA Story of the Year'

It's possible, Gingeras says, that many of these RNA-coding regions regulate how genes make proteins--a function that could make them very important.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Simons' four key patents, granted by the U.S. between 1993 and 1998, cover the use of variations in a junk DNAsequence to assist in analyzing or identifying genes in the coding regions.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Up to one quarter of genetic mutations occur either in introns, noncoding segments of DNAsandwiched within the coding regions of a gene, or in sequences between genes.

FORBES: Magazine Article