Human Genome Encyclopedia, ENCODE, Reveals Complexities Of DNA, Genes
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Reuters | Posted: 09/05/2012 1:06 pm Updated: 09/07/2012 3:02 pm
* 'Junk' DNA runs the genes, $196 million international study finds
* Project offers 'guidebook to the human genome'
* May transform personal DNA analysis, drug discovery
By Sharon Begley
NEW YORK, Sept 5 (Reuters) - In the largest single batch of discoveries about human DNA since the completion of the human genome project in 2003, 442 scientists in labs across three continents released 30 studies jam-packed with finds on Wednesday.
The discoveries, representing what the journal Nature calls the "guidebook to the human genome," range from the esoteric - what is a gene? - to the practical - that just 20 gene switches may underlie 17 seemingly unrelated cancers, giving companies a workable number of drug targets.
The studies come from a $196 million project called the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, or ENCODE, whose goal is to take the babel produced by the human genome project - the sequence of 3.2 billion chemical "bases" or "letters" that constitute the human genome - and make sense of it.
"We understood the meaning of only a small percentage of the genome's letters," said Dr. Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, which paid for the bulk of the study.