What do cells do when they aren't creating proteins? I've always thought that the majority of the "work" in a cell is protein production, until I read the following. The Wikipedia article on the central dogma of molecular biology states this: > 80% of the human genome is transcribed even though only 1% codes for proteins. and this: > Current research focuses on investigating the function of non-coding RNA, that is, RNA that does not follow the dogma trend and does not code for polypeptides. If 99% of what's transcribed isn't used for creating proteins, what is it used for? If it's not known - are there any hypotheses?

As indicated in the comments there are several non-coding (untranslated) RNAs, that the cell produces. Most of these perform gene regulatory functions. However, widespread transcription is known to take place throughout the genome (pervasive transcription), but the functions of these RNAs are not clearly understood. It has been suggested that in certain cases the event of transcription, rather than its product, is responsible for chromatin regulation.