Intricate Toiling Found In Nooks of DNA Once Believed to Stand Idle

[charran]

hey all,

check this out.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/ar2007061302466.html?referrer=emailarticle

the first concerted effort to understand all the inner workings of the dna molecule is overturning a host of long-held assumptions about the nature of genes and their role in human health and evolution, scientists reported yesterday.

the new perspective reveals dna to be not just a string of biological code but a dauntingly complex operating system that processes many more kinds of information than previously appreciated.

rewriting the book on dna
the encode (encyclopedia of dna elements) project is the first large-scale effort to understand the molecular language of genetic inheritance. among its surprising findings:

the findings, from a project involving hundreds of scientists in 11 countries and detailed in 29 papers being published today, confirm growing suspicions that the stretches of "junk dna" flanking hardworking genes are not junk.

charran :)

[soup]

this reminds me of a company that i learned about last year - a start up, that is developing dna sequencing equipment that will revolutionize people's access to dna sequencing information by way of (relatively) quick and inexpensive laboratory equipment. one of the main lures, and probably the main sources of venture capital, is the idea of customizing pharmaceuticals to a persons genetic makeup - genetically customized drugs...

[note from moderator: you may email soup privately for the url if you wish]

[Robert Riedel]

good article, charran- dw has been workin' on this topic for a few years, also- much of his research is in the science of peace, and a lot was also shared on the carribean cruise in 2004.

i suspect that he'll hammer away at this a little at the mackinac conference, this august.

bob

[Jacob]

thanks for this.

i found this paragraph particularly interesting:

""i think of them as gate-crashers at a party," birney said. "they appeared by chance over evolutionary time . . . neither to the organism's benefit nor to its hindrance. that is quite an interesting shift in perspective for many biologists.""

it's as if somebody just added a few lines of code! ;)