That’s what you will find out after reading this story:
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Approximately 45 percent of human DNA is made up of transposed elements or te-genetic residues from now extinct viruses, which once thought to be “spam DNA”.
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However, this approach is changing, and a new study that has grouped on TE, based on evolutionary relationships and level of preservation, is that one of the sequences called the MER11 family plays a role in gene expression.
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Nearly 80 years after the original discovery, scientists are still looking for new things about how they play a vital role in the evolution of primates.
Since the first time, the Swiss physician Friedrich Miescher wasolated for the first time in 1869, science has been on an incredible path of genome discovery. One of the main moments of the journey took place in the 1940s, when Citogeneticist Barbara McClintock discovered the transferable elements (T), also known as “jumping genes”. After decades, the human genome project found that these elements made up stunning 45 percent of the human genome, and over millions of years, it was able to multiply due to the “copy and paste” mechanism.
Because these sequences are very repetitive and almost identical, for decades they have been ignored as “spam DNA”-gennetic residues from long-term viruses. However, in recent years, this unpleasant attitude of these sequences has begun to change. Today, Scientists believe It plays a role in the performance of genome, the evolution, specification and diversity of chromosomes. However, due to their repetitive nature, tets are difficult to investigate.
Now a new international study has found a new method of analysis of these mysterious sequences, and they have discovered the hidden patterns responsible for the development of genes. The results of the study were published In the magazine Scientific progress;
“Our genome has been followed a long time ago, but many parts of it remain unknown,” Fumitaka Inoue, co-author of Kyoto University, said in a press release. This understanding would solve one of the greatest secrets of the genome.
In order to better understand TE, researchers developed a new method of classification. With the exception of the standard annotation measures, this study is grouped with TE, based on its evolutionary relationship and the quality of its preservation of primates in the genome. By focusing on the sequences of the sequences, the new method, the new method allowed scientists to divide the group into subgroups called Mer11_G1 per G4. The G1 subgroup reflected the oldest evolutionary sequences and the G4 was the youngest.
Looking at the MER11 through this new lens, the researchers were able to compare these new sub -epigenetic markers and found that these groups seem to have regulatory function inside the genome. In other words, they behaved as turning switches gene expression, especially in early human development.
Of course, you need to conclude about the model and the other to see it. Thus, the team used a technique called “lentivirus mass -parallel reporter test” or Lenimpra to measure 7000 MER11 sequences using human stem cells and early stage neuronal cells. This showed that the youngest of the group (Mer11_G4) had the greatest influence on gene expression. According to the study, this group uses regulatory “motifs” – short DNA sections that affect gene development and response.
By observing the development of this group, scientists have shown that DNA, initially inherited from ancient viruses, can be actively involved in primates in DNA form and function. Although the journey of human genome understanding is over 150 years old, it still has a great ability to surprise us, seemingly every turn.
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