Encode: Gene Switches in 'Junk' DNA
September 5, 2012
September 5, 2012 | Junk DNA is not useless after all. At least 80% of DNA that doesn't contain genes does still play a role in health: at least 4 million gene switches that, "control which genes are used in a cell and when they are used, and determine, for instance, whether a cell becomes a liver cell or a neuron."
The project, called Encode, for Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, involved 440 scientists from 32 labs around the world. The findings were published in more than 30 scientific papers in Nature, Genome Research, Genome Biology, and other journals.
New York Times story.