[The paradox of genome size and the problem of redundant DNA]

Data on the relationship between genome size and phenotypic traits of animals and plants are reviewed. Different concepts explaining accumulation of redundant (noncoding) DNA in genomes of eukaryotes are discussed: regulatory (repressory), neutralistic (permissive), skeletal, bodyguard, and buffering, respectively. The relationship between genome size and metabolic rate is presumably the primary one. Possible molecular mechanisms responsible for this relationship are considered. It is concluded that the problem of redundant DNA (genome size paradox) is hardly to solve by studies on molecular level only, since the genome size is a parameter related to molecular, cellular and organismal levels. Redundant DNA seems to be of ecophysiological significance, and therefore the interdisciplinary field dealing with genome size paradox can be called "genome cytoecology".