ENCODE
milhayser | August 4, 2014Only 1% of the human genome codes for proteins, which might make you wonder what the rest of the nucleotide sequence is good for. In 2012 the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (or ENCODE) announced that a full 80% of the genome played a biochemical role, interacting with proteins in some way. But a new study says it takes only about 8% of our non-protein-coding genes to make us human. This is the percentage of genes that are 'conserved' by the human species: change one of these genes, and you'll alter the fitness of the individual. These genes evolve slowly (although not as slowly as protein-…
finchtalk | July 25, 2014Science and its interpretation is wonderful. Today I saw a post on Twitter from @LAbizar, referencing an @GEN, post that stated 8.2% of Human DNA is Functional with a link to a GEN article: "Surprise: Only 8.2% of Human DNA Is Functional." The GEN writeup cited a PLoS Genetics article, "8.2% of the Human Genome Is Constrained: Variation in Rates of Turnover across Functional Element Classes in the Human Lineage," released today.
How much of the human genome is functional?
In 2012, the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) project published a landmark summary, "An integrated encyclopedia of…