[baudrunner]

Hi, Michelle

More "categories" were probably provided by the DNA's "Simpson's Desert Regions", which were once thought to have no useful function and were once commonly referred to as "junk DNA". This "junk DNA" represents about 98% of the entire DNA molecule. Researchers have now identified certain segments of these regions which facilitate the process in gene selection for protein synthesis and appear to provide some other useful functions after all, in contrast to the task of providing the actual gene template, which is the job of the allele, or genetically coded portion.

It is my opinion that during evolution of the eukaryote, or nucleated cell, the newly evolved DNA molecule stored information pertaining to past successes in protein synthesis in these long DNA portions, providing it with a memory of sorts, and that they continue to provide an important data base of information which is used during gene selection and generation of the RNA. This DNA portion then serves up the gene which acts to provide the protein template and thus is a learning program which might act to maintain the integrity of the genetic code and might even enhance the gene periodically thereby.

Stem cells, while seemingly magical and highly evolved, are actually "primitive" cells. It is possible that they might very well provide us with more insight into the nature of evolution by studying the actual mechanism that determines which cell type it will become. The kind of inter-cellular communication required is somewhat different from the inter-molecular communication mechanisms which guide RNA production. At some point, however, the information needs to be stored, and that would be the right stage to pinpoint evolution in progress.