Biological dark matter

Biological dark matter is an informal term for unclassified or poorly understood genetic material. This genetic material may refer to genetic material produced by unclassified microorganisms. By extension, biological dark matter may also refer to the un-isolated microorganisms whose existence can only be inferred from the genetic material that they produce. Some of the genetic material may not fall under the three existing domains of life: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota; thus, it has been suggested that a possible fourth domain of life may yet be discovered,[1][2] although other explanations are also probable. Alternatively, the genetic material may refer to non-coding DNA (so-called "junk DNA")[3][4][5] and non-coding RNA produced by known organisms.[6][7][8]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference PLOS One was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Lopez P, Halary S, Bapteste E (October 2015). "Highly divergent ancient gene families in metagenomic samples are compatible with additional divisions of life". Biology Direct. 10: 64. doi:10.1186/s13062-015-0092-3. PMC 4624368. PMID 26502935.
  3. ^ Carey N (2015). Junk DNA: A Journey Through the Dark Matter of the Genome. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231170840.
  4. ^ Kolata G (5 September 2012). "Bits of Mystery DNA, Far From 'Junk', Play Crucial Role". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  5. ^ Boyle R (6 September 2012). "Inside the Mysterious Dark Matter of the Human Genome". Popular Science. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  6. ^ Pugh BF, Voss K (13 September 2013). "Scientists Discover the Origins of Genomic "Dark Matter"". Penn State Science. Archived from the original on 2015-09-08. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  7. ^ "Scientists shed some light on biological "dark matter"". Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. 20 January 2014. Retrieved 2015-09-09.
  8. ^ van Bakel H, Nislow C, Blencowe BJ, Hughes TR (May 2010). Eddy SR (ed.). "Most "dark matter" transcripts are associated with known genes". PLOS Biology. 8 (5): e1000371. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000371. PMC 2872640. PMID 20502517.