Genetics compiled a complete map of the human genome
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Scientists-geneticists managed to draw up a detailed map of the human genetic code.
In recent years, scientists have assumed that the basis of human nature is less than 2% of the total genome, that is, 20 thousand genes, and most of the DNA helix does not carry any information. The remaining 98% of genes were considered "useless or junk DNA".
However, the researchers of the International Project called "Encyclopedia of DNA Elements" (ENCODE), which started in the late 1990s, found that 80% of these so-called "junk DNA" are actually biologically active.
More than 400 specialists from 32 scientific laboratories participated in the study and decoding of the human genome. They examined about 3 billion pairs of genes that make up the DNA double helix.
"The results of this study show that the assumptions made earlier are false, because the majority of the genome is biologically active. In this regard, the term "junk DNA" is time to be sent to the trash, "says Dr. Yuan Birni, project manager from the European Institute of Bioinformatics in Cambridge.
"We have come a long way," said Evan Burnie, professor at the European Institute of Bioinformatics in the United Kingdom and lead analyst and coordinator of the ENCODE project. "By carefully analyzing and combining a staggering variety of data, we found out that the human genome functions," including "and" turning off "the various genes and controlling the process of protein production. ENCODE has advanced our understanding of the genome to a new level, and all these new knowledge are in the public domain. "
ENCODE Consortium collected all the data received together and after checking their accuracy and reliability posted on the Internet for free public access.
"The ENCODE database is like the Google map of the human genome," explains the director of the NHGRI program, Dr. Alice Fingold. - By simply changing the scale of the Google map, you can see countries, states, cities, streets and even individual intersections, and by selecting a specific function, you can see photos and street names, find out information about traffic and even weather. Similarly, the ENCODE map allows researchers to study chromosomes, genes, functional elements and individual nucleotides in the human genome. "
The ENCODE database quickly becomes a fundamental resource for researchers. It helps them understand human biology and the nature of disease.
More than a hundred articles were published using these data by scientists who were not participants in the project.
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