A large proportion of the DNA in the chromosomes of many plants and animals comprises genes that do not encode instructions for making proteins -- up to 98% of the genome for any given species. But this genetic information is poorly understood. Some scientists have called this stuff the 'dark matter' of the genome, or even dismissed it as 'junk DNA' -- but it appears to have played an outsized role in rice development.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191218153533.html
