Washington
A second one code hidden in human DNA claim to have been discovered by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle led by a Greek scientist. The research group under the associate professor of Genomic Sciences and Medicine, Mr Yannis Stamatogiannopoulos states, according to a related press release from the University of Washington, that this second hidden code contains information that change the way the instructions contained in DNA are read and the mutations that contribute to health and disease are interpreted.
This research, which is published in the journal Science, is part of the ENCODE program for the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements and aims to find out where and how the instructions about the biological functions of the organism are stored in the human genome. This long-standing, international effort is funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute.
The two languages
Since the decoding of the genetic code in the 1960s, scientists have believed that it is used exclusively to "record" information about proteins. But scientists from University of Washington discovered that in the genome the genetic code is used to record two separate languages. One describes how proteins are made and the second instructs the cell about how genes are controlled. One language is written… on top of the other and that is why the second language remained hidden for so long.
Professor Stamatogiannopoulos said in his press release that "For more than 40 years we assume that the changes in DNAs that affect the genetic code only concern protein synthesis. Now we know that this basic hypothesis about reading the human genome gave us only half the picture. New findings show that Our DNA is incredibly powerful device information storage, which nature has exploited to the full and in unexpected ways.
The duons
The genetic code uses an alphabet of 64 letters called codons. The research team led by Mr. Stamatogiannopoulos has now discovered that some of these codons, called duons, can have two... uses, one related to protein sequencing and a second relating to the control of genes. These two roles seem to have evolved in parallel – that is, the instructions for gene control probably help to stabilize some characteristics of proteins as well as their synthesis method.
The Washington University press release notes that the discovery of duons is expected to have a significant impact on how scientists interpret a patient's genome paving the way for better diagnosis and treatment of diseases. "The fact that the genetic code can simultaneously write two kinds of information means many changes in the DNAs that seem to modify protein sequences can actually cause disease by interfering with gene control or even intervening at the same time in both mechanisms - that of genes and that of proteins " says the Greek scientist.
