In yet another installment in our series of reports that there’s more to junk DNA than at first was thought, Harvard Researchers have announced finding a new class of regulatory gene in the yeast genome. The new genes do not create proteins; rather they (or at least the particular one discovered – ‘SRG1′) create RNA that then blocks the action of the neighboring gene. Reuters quotes team leader Fred Winston:

“When people are looking to understand the regulation of genes from whatever organism — humans, flies, mice, yeast — they cannot just look for proteins that are acting there. It might be that it is simply the act of transcribing that is causing regulation,” said Winston.

Slashdot also has this article.