Scientists have made a breakthrough in unraveling mysteries such as why one person gets cancer or depression while an identical twin remains healthy.
It turns out that taking another look at what for long has been considered DNA “junk” was a good idea.
A massive undertaking by hundreds of scientists has found that far from being junk, the non-gene part of DNA is actually a complex web of networks telling genes what to do through a system of on-off switches.
This non-gene area of DNA is huge, amounting to about 80 percent, and it has been long thought that it wasn’t important because it didn’t contain genes, which hold the instructions for life.
But the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, or ENCODE, project proves otherwise. The project has produced an encyclopedia that serves as a road map to the system of switches that control which genes are used by a cell and when.
Scientists say the encyclopedia will help explain how changes in the non-gene part of DNA contribute to diseases so researchers can target those switches to prevent illness.
Wired: New DNA Encyclopedia Attempts to Map Function of Entire Human Genome
National Human Genome Research Institute:The ENCODE Project: ENCyclopedia Of DNA Elements
The New York Times: Far From ‘Junk,’ DNA Dark Matter Plays Crucial Role
Nature: ENCODE: The Human Encyclopaedia