Here’s what you will learn when you read this story:
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About 45 percent of human DNA is made up of transposable elements or TES-genitic residues from now the Uteconi viruses, which scientists once consider “garbage DNA”.
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But this opinion is changing a new study – which groups TES based on evolutionary relationships and the level of conservation – justifies that a family of sequences known as Mer11 plays a role in gene expression.
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Nearly 80 years after their initial discovery, scientists still find new things about how TES play a vital role in the evolution of primates.
Ever since Swiss doctor Friedrich Misher was isolated DNA for the first time in 1869, science has been an incredible path of genomic discovery. One of the main points in the trip happened in the 1940s, when cytogenetist Barbara McClintock discovered transposable elements (TE), also known as “jumping genes”. Decades later, the human genome project found that these elements make up 45 percent of the human genome and were able to spread over millions of years thanks to the “copy and placement” mechanism.
As these sequences are highly recurring and almost identical, they have been neglected as “garbage DNA” for decades-genuine residues from long leaked viruses. But in recent years, this unsuccessful opinion of these sequences has begun to change. Today, Scientists believe that TES plays a role in the function of the genome, the evolution of chromosomes, specification and diversity. However, due to their repetitive nature, they remain difficult to study.
Now a new international study has found a new method for analyzing these mysterious sequences and they have found hidden models responsible for gene expression. The results of the survey were published In the magazine Science is progressingS
“Our genome has long been sequentially, but the function of many of its parts remains unknown,” says Fumitaka Inu, co -author of the study at the University of Kyoto, in a press statement. Tes understanding would solve one of the greatest mysteries of the genome.
In an attempt to understand better, the researchers have developed a new method for classifying them. Avoiding standard explanations for explanations, this study groups TES based on both their evolutionary relationships and the quality of preservation in the primae genome. Focusing on a family of sequences called Mer11, the new method allowed scientists to divide the group into subgroups called Mer11_G1 to G4. The G1 subgroup represents the most evolutionary sequences, while the G4 contains the smallest.
Looking at the Mer11 through this new lens, the researchers were able to compare these new subfamctions with epigenetic markers and found that these groups seem to have a regulatory function in the genome. In other words, they acted as excluded switches for gene expression-especially in early human development.
Of course, it is one thing to lock in a model and another to see it in action. So, the team uses a technique known as “Lentivirus mass parallel reporter analysis” or Lentimpra to measure 7,000 sequences of Mer11 using human stem cells and neural cells at an early stage. This has shown that the richest of the group (Mer11_G4) has the most powerful impact on gene expression. According to the study, this group uses regulatory “motifs” – a DNA department that affects the development and reaction of the gene.
By tracking the evolution of this group, scientists show that DNA initially inherited from ancient viruses can actively participate in the form and function of primaral DNA. Although the journey of understanding of the human genome is more than 150 years in creation, it still has the remarkable ability to surprise us every turn.
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