“Spatial Grammar” in DNA Speaks to God’s Gift of Language

This is similar to the way words change functions based on their placement in sentences. For example, consider how the word love changes function from a verb to a direct object in these sentences: We love others. Others need love. Like learning a new language, scientists are learning to decode both the words and the grammar of gene expression to better understand gene regulation and how gene expression patterns are encoded in the genome.

This discovery is further evidence that no DNA is “junk” DNA—a term that refers to parts of the genome that were once thought to be functionless. Research continues to show that so-called junk DNA plays an important role in regulating gene expression, maintaining chromosome structure, and influencing other cellular processes.

All DNA is important, even when acting simply as a spacer—just as the spaces between words in written English help readers make sense of the words themselves. DNA is a language, and grammar matters in DNA, too! God spoke creation into existence with words, and as his image bearers, we have been endowed with language right down to our DNA.