our face shapes junk DNA – say researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Their research shows that although the essential features inherited from his parents in the genes, but the final finishing touches those parts of our DNA that does not code for proteins and act as regulators of gene expression. He writes about it in the latest issue of the journal “Science”.
Axel Visel and Catia Attanasio at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the main authors of the paper
/ Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab /
concept of ‘junk’ DNA became popular when it was found that the vast majority of the human genome does not encode any specific proteins. Since the beginning they did not know what it could be useful DNA called it “junk”. Time has shown that this part of the noncoding DNA fully in fact very important role in the regulation of gene activity. Recent reports of scientists from California, is a further confirmation of this fact.
Our face is unique as our fingerprints. Nobody in the world does not look exactly like us. Even Siamese twins are not identical. Scientists have long tried to understand the mechanism behind this. Genetic differences are obvious, we are in the end, to some extent similar to their parents, all the differences, however, genes do not explain.
Researchers at Berkeley Lab have confirmed in recent experiments in mice, the final shape of the mouth determine what non-coding DNA fragments that enhance the activity of specific, relevant genes. There is no reason that humans would be different.
The researchers used the method to construct three-dimensional tomographic image of the developing mouse embryos. Of the about 120 reinforcing the three DNA fragments were selected and created genetically engineered mice lacking one of them. When mice were analyzed after 8 weeks the shape of their skulls and mouths. This showed that the non-coding DNA fragments, for example, affect the length of the mouth, the width of the skull.
It is believed, this finding may be relevant to the investigation of certain facial deformities. The study did not confirm the time that they were the cause gene mutations. You may have to seek modification of non-coding DNA fragments that control the activity of these genes.
area marked with red mouth mouse embryo, which controls the development of specific fragmeny junk DNA
/ Berkeley Lab /
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