Junk DNA for animals?

Question

I recently found out that humans have a ton of "junk DNA".

I'm wondering if anyone knows if the same goes for animals - if they have lots of junk DNA too.

Anyone?

Answer 1

Yep.  Some species have much less of it.  The puffer fish has an extremely streamlined genome.

Calling it junk is a misnomer.  Large portions probably have a purpose, however sorting the useful bits from the real junk is difficult.

Answer 2

Animals and plants have plenty.

Prokaryotes tend to have much less.

Answer 3

All organisms have "junk" DNA.  Viruses are so small they don't have enough of a genome to include junk, but technically, viruses aren't alive.

At least some "junk" DNA is thought to have functions that have not been discovered yet.

The Wikipedia article is good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_DNA

Answer 4

Yes (it would be very odd if they didn't, seeing how related we are to them), and so do plants.

But as time goes by, more and more functions are being discovered for this so-called junk. Some of it really may be padding, but some of it controls the activity of the protein-coding genes.