A recent article posted on Nature magazine’s website states that the shape of DNA can play a crucial role in genetics. Being the mechanism of inheritance, DNA is considered the ‘book of life’ to all geneticists. After much publicity, its shape has become a figure of beauty; however the double helix is often bent, kinked or varies in width. These variations from the well-known double helix shape depend, in subtle ways, on the sequence, so that two near-identical sequences can adopt noticeably different shapes. A study in Science provided evidence that the precise shape of DNA has been determined by evolution. That is, genetics is not only about sequence but also shape.

The article then went on to discuss the enigma of ‘junk DNA’. Approximately 98% of the human genome doesn’t code for proteins and has been considered to be the remains of evolution. However, recent studies have shown that alterations in the nucleotide sequence of this ‘junk DNA’ can change the host organism in significant ways.  Geneticists in America and Japan have both found that similar shaped sections of non-coding DNA have been preserved through evolution across 36 different species. Thus concluding, that these non-coding sections are important for the shape it confers on the DNA rather than its information content.