The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles

by Bruce H. Lipton

Here’s another fact I often use in my lectures as a cautionary tale about overemphasizing the roles of genes: the same gene used to code for the protein keratin found in hair also provides for all of the following structures: skin, nails, claws, hooves, and horns. The gene that encodes the synthesis of individual keratin protein building blocks does not control how those keratin molecules will be used. So protein-encoding genes do provide for cellular building blocks, but do not determine an organism’s structure or its complexity. That leaves us with a fundamental question: what does? Figuring out an answer to that question leads us to another completely unexpected outcome of the Genome Project: genes that encode a cell’s protein building blocks constitute less than 2 percent of the genome’s total amount of DNA, so the vast majority of DNA does not contribute to the cell’s protein population. The belief that this DNA lacked function led Francis Crick to label it as “junk DNA.” That term, though readily accepted by the public, irritates large numbers of biologists who cannot fathom the idea that cells carry massive amounts of “useless” DNA. That’s why geneticists prefer to use the term “dark matter” when referring to noncoding DNA.