What do onions tell us about our origins? (CT Scan, Episode 73)

A popular argument for “junk DNA” says that since onions have more non-coding DNA than humans, but are less complex than humans, onions’ DNA must be mostly useless junk. Therefore, the non-coding DNA in humans is likely junk as well. Let’s think through this argument biblically and critically.
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DIGGING DEEPER
• Purdom, G. (2014). Decoding the Debris. https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/junk-dna/decoding-debris/
• All “junk DNA” articles: https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/junk-dna/
• All genetics articles: https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/
• Parker, G. (2006). The Origin of Life: DNA and Protein. https://answersingenesis.org/origin-of-life/dna-and-protein/ (Chapter from Creation: Facts of Life. Available to read online for free here: https://answersingenesis.org/answers/books/creation-facts-of-life/)
• Gitt, W. (2006). The Origin of Biological Information and of Life. https://answersingenesis.org/origin-of-life/56-the-origin-of-biological-information-and-of-life/ (Chapter from Did God Use Evolution? Observations from a Scientist of Faith. Available to read online for free here: https://answersingenesis.org/answers/books/did-god-use-evolution/)
• All origin of life articles: https://answersingenesis.org/origin-of-life/
• Transposable element information:
o Purdom, G. (2006) Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs)—Evolutionary “Junk” or God’s Tools? https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/junk-dna/human-endogenous-retroviruses-hervs-gods-tools/
o Walkup, L. (2000). ‘Junk’ DNA: Evolutionary Discards or God’s Tools? https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/junk-dna/junk-dna-evolutionary-discards-or-gods-tools/
o Mitchell, E. (2015). Endogenous Retroviruses: Key to Mammalian Brain Development? https://answersingenesis.org/biology/microbiology/endogenous-retroviruses-key-to-mammalian-brain-development/
o Bartlett, J. (2009). Towards a Creationary Classification of Mutations. https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/mutations/towards-a-creationary-classification-of-mutations/
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CITED REFERENCES
• T. Ryan Gregory, “The Onion Test,” Genomicron, April 25, 2007.
• Graur, D. (2017). Rubbish DNA: The functionless fraction of the human genome. In Evolution of the Human Genome I (pp. 19-60). Springer, Tokyo.
• Thomas CA. 1971. The genetic organization of chromosomes. Annu. Rev. Genet. 5:237– 256. (As cited in Graur, 2017).
• Dufresne, F., & Jeffery, N. (2011). A guided tour of large genome size in animals: what we know and where we are heading. Chromosome research, 19(7), 925-938.
• Blommaert, J., Riss, S., Hecox-Lea, B., Welch, D. M., & Stelzer, C. P. (2019). Small, but surprisingly repetitive genomes: transposon expansion and not polyploidy has driven a doubling in genome size in a metazoan species complex. BMC genomics, 20(1), 1-12.
• Cho, J. (2018). Transposon-derived non-coding RNAs and their function in plants. Frontiers in Plant Science, 9, 600.
• Sundaram, V., & Wysocka, J. (2020). Transposable elements as a potent source of diverse cis-regulatory sequences in mammalian genomes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 375(1795), 20190347.
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