A new genetic discovery has big implications for medicine and scientific thought.
Scientists previously thought that only one or two percent of the genetic code was actually used. The research group ENCODE (Encyclopedia Of DNA Elements) recently published findings that at least 80 percent of DNA is chemically active.
"The genome is just alive with stuff. We just really didn't realize that beforehand," said Ewan Birney, one of the leaders of the project, in an article of The Sydney Morning Herald. ENCODE discovered that the majority of genes act like switches which activate or deactivate a command to build a specific protein structure.
It works like this: cells are made of proteins. DNA tells the proteins how to fit together to build the cell. Activate certain switches and the DNA will tell the proteins to build a kidney cell. Activate a different set of switches and you will get a blood cell, and so on.
The research also indicated that diseases such as diabetes and some kinds of cancer have a lot to do with genes. That means that if scientists discover how to manipulate the gene switches, it could lead to incredible breakthroughs in medicine.
"Most of the changes that affect disease don't lie in the genes themselves; they lie in the switches," said Michael Snyder, a Stanford University researcher in an interview with The New York Times.
For more information, here are a few links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/science/far-from-junk-dna-dark-matter-proves-crucial-to-health.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
http://www.genome.gov/10005107
Scientists previously thought that only one or two percent of the genetic code was actually used. The research group ENCODE (Encyclopedia Of DNA Elements) recently published findings that at least 80 percent of DNA is chemically active.
"The genome is just alive with stuff. We just really didn't realize that beforehand," said Ewan Birney, one of the leaders of the project, in an article of The Sydney Morning Herald. ENCODE discovered that the majority of genes act like switches which activate or deactivate a command to build a specific protein structure.
It works like this: cells are made of proteins. DNA tells the proteins how to fit together to build the cell. Activate certain switches and the DNA will tell the proteins to build a kidney cell. Activate a different set of switches and you will get a blood cell, and so on.
The research also indicated that diseases such as diabetes and some kinds of cancer have a lot to do with genes. That means that if scientists discover how to manipulate the gene switches, it could lead to incredible breakthroughs in medicine.
"Most of the changes that affect disease don't lie in the genes themselves; they lie in the switches," said Michael Snyder, a Stanford University researcher in an interview with The New York Times.
For more information, here are a few links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/science/far-from-junk-dna-dark-matter-proves-crucial-to-health.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
http://www.genome.gov/10005107
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