This is according to an article published this weekend in the journal Science. A team at the University of Washington discovered that some codons, called duons, can have two meanings, one related to the protein sequence, and the other related to gene control. These two meanings probably developed in coordination with each other. Gene control instructions appear to help stabilize the particular beneficial properties of the proteins and how they are made.
Scientists from the University of Washington have discovered a second code hidden within DNA. This code contains information that changes the way scientists have to read the instructions contained in the DNA, interpret the mutations and differentiate between a healthy version of the gene and a disease-causing mutation.
A research team led by Dr. John Stamatoiannopoulos, professor of genomic sciences and medicine at the University of Washington, reported the findings in the December 13 issue of the journal "Science".
The research is part of an extensive work on the project of building an encyclopedia of the elements of DNA, also known as ENCODE. The goal of the project is to discover where and how the instructions for biological functions are stored in the human genome.
When the genetic code was deciphered, in the sixties of the 20th century, scientists assumed that it was used exclusively for coding proteins. Scientists at the University of Washington were amazed to discover that the genome uses the genetic code to write content in two separate languages. One describes how the proteins are built and they didn't know about the existence of the second language until now.
"For 40 years we assumed that DNA changes affect the genetic code only through their control over the function of proteins," Stamatoiannopoulos said. "Now we know that this fundamental assumption about reading the human genome missed half the picture. These new findings show that DNA is a powerful information storage device, which nature takes full advantage of in unexpected ways."
The genetic code has an alphabet of 64 characters called codons. A team at the University of Washington discovered that some codons, called duons, can have two meanings - one related to the protein sequence and the other related to gene control. These two meanings probably developed in coordination with each other. Gene control instructions appear to help stabilize the particular beneficial properties of the proteins and how they are constructed.
"The discovery of duons has significant implications for the way scientists and doctors will be able to interpret the patient's genome and it will be possible to develop new ways to diagnose and treat diseases."
The fact that two types of information are stored in the genetic code at the same time means that many changes in the DNA that appear to change the protein sequences may actually cause diseases by disrupting the gene control program or even by using both mechanisms at the same time." Stamatoiannopoulos said.
To the announcement of the researchers on the website of the University of Washington
More of the topic in Hayadan:
29 תגובות
David
Couldn't the creator of the world have done a better job? He kind of screwed up, didn't he?
The Creator of the world allows us to discover a drop of His wonderful wisdom.. How many are your deeds, God, I hope that these revelations will strengthen our faith in the Creator of the world and love for Him..
Correction: Professor Seligman studied first, second and third degrees at the Hebrew University, but today he is not an Israeli professor...
The Israeli scientist Professor Harveh Seligman from the Hebrew University was the first in the world to publish articles and even a book edited by him that claims and demonstrates how an additional code can be read from the DNA and his articles demonstrate this not only in humans but in a variety of groups and creatures.
By the way, even if it is not a revolution in knowledge, I personally did not know, so thanks to whoever published the original article so that we get a simple and beautiful summary of the information.
Science is confounded by religion. By those who insist that there is intelligence behind the work and by those who insist that there is and will not be intelligence behind the work.
Where emotion or ego comes in there is no science. And I say that to both sides.
Hope I pissed everyone off.
The article you translated is full of mistakes!
DNA control sequences have been known and studied for many years.
The article tries to refer to a nice discovery as if it were a game changer. There is no sensation here. Just a new name.
Anonymous (unidentified) user
Read what I wrote... I wrote that a more complex explanation (evolution) is correct, while a simpler explanation (Aristotle's) is incorrect.
And I don't remember any prediction of evolution that was "denied". What are you talking about??
Miracles, what exactly is simple about the theory of evolution? Even simple prophecies she had were denied. And what is denied, is not science. Maximum religion.
I think this is a very important discovery. It changes the entire approach to the role of DNA. I haven't read the original research paper in its entirety yet, but I find it credible. I would like an expert geneticist to write a complete and uncomplicated review of this study. Best regards, Aminadav
SAFKAN
Theoretical science is always like that, it is not always easy to find ways to deny or confirm it.
There are indirect confirmations that can be drawn from the conclusions in astrophysics.
This does not mean that theoretical science should be treated as a fait accompli - that would be a misunderstanding of the concept of theoretical science.
There is much to study in astrophysics besides theories about the nature of the creation of the universe.
Without understanding the mechanism of general relativity for example - we would not have been able to design the GPS system as it works.
"Benjamin, introduce an intelligent being that has existed since time immemorial, and Occam's razor is solved."
Whoever said it did not understand the meaning of the proverb - and it is only a proverb. Occam's razor is basically a rule of thumb that says you should look for the simplest explanation. But - this is not a law, and sometimes reality shows that it is not true. A good example of this is evolution. Aristotle's theory (the Scala Natura) spoke of simple species that always existed. Then came Darwin and his friends and complicated everything if a more complicated theory.
It is certainly possible to assume an intelligent being that existed from the beginning of time (there is no such thing as "always") that created everything. But - there are several problems here. The first is simple - such a theory is not scientific (in Popper's terms): it does not explain the existing, does not predict anything and cannot be disproved. Secondly, there is no reason to assume that this being wants the best of man. On the contrary - if the entity exists (or existed...) then the created world is extremely cruel. Why do creators suffer? Why are they dying? Why do they need to eat?
Naaa... it is much simpler to assume that such a being does not exist, without which it would not exist, and that the world was created according to simple physical laws.
And by the way - there is a physical law that says that it will not allow something not to happen....
safkan
Your response does not deserve a response at all and so…
Lorem Ipsum,
The certainty of the big bang is not as great as it is commonly thought. The big bang is based on too little reliable empirical data, dark matter and dark energy are major cracks in the big bang theory. The Big Bang is acceptable because it has a strong pyrotechnic component, people like pyrotechnics even if they are worthless, see for example: De Noor fireworks.
Another reason why the big bang is accepted is an economic reason: physicists are human beings therefore they need a living, they get their living from developing theories. The Big Bang is fertile ground for many theories, so it attracts researchers who make a living from that pasture. If the physicists said "we don't know how the early universe developed" they wouldn't be able to develop theories, so if they say "we know how it developed" and make a living from it.
On this our Sages said: If there is no Torah there is no flour, then there is the "Big Bang" Torah and this provides flour.
to an anonymous user (2)
Equally you can sing "...and he was and he is and he will be..."
From "Lord of the World" but it doesn't seem to me that "Hidan" is the site
the right thing to do.
One more thing, when you take into account that 99.99% of Mini
The creatures that have ever walked our planet,
Swim in its waters and fly in its skies are no longer with us
(This is at least many millions of species
different from each other), the question arises: even if we assume that there was
A planner - was he really that intelligent?
Lorem Ipsum
What you say - Binyamin May concluded with the sentence: "And I wonder who programmed the programmer..."
They are simply trying to prove the existence of God (unsuccessfully).
To all the anonymous, one and the other of their kind: there is evolution and there is a big bang. We no longer need an intelligent, omniscient being that has always existed and is suspiciously involved in the way of life and morality of a number of insignificant creatures on an insignificant grain of dust surrounding an insignificant momentary spark in an insignificant cloud of dust, all of which will soon disappear in the next supernova, or gamma ray burst the next or some other random and unimportant disaster.
And the funniest thing: all the parameters of that strange entity are all adjusted so that it should not be called "Jehovah", but by some substitute name.
Benjamin, introduce an intelligent being that has existed since time immemorial, and Occam's Razor is solved.
Benjamin May
why do you think that
Why does every possibility except evolution lead to a "strong being".
to the anonymous user
The problem with intelligent planning is that every other possibility
Except "random" evolution (it is not completely random
since there are laws according to which it comes into being), decrees that it will be
A being stronger, bigger and more sophisticated than man (because we are
we do not know how to create humans) that will be created by a powerful being
Bigger and more sophisticated than her - and there is no end to the talk...
to the skeptic
And I wonder who programmed the programmer…..
If there is one effective device in removing intelligent design,
After all, this is Occam's razor.
A genetic code, with systems that translate it, replicate it, trim it, fuse it, correct errors in it, cannot evolve by itself. And anyone who claims otherwise is closing his eyes. and Yuk.
I wonder if the binary code here is absolutely coincidental…
It is a cluster of 3 bases and therefore there are 64 letters (4 in the third)
Certainly in a random way - if there is a secondary mechanism that "strengthens" the survival of the DNA then to the individual that has it
There is a higher survival (what to do survival is tautological)
64 because there are 4 bases for the genetic code
(not a biologist)…
"The genetic code uses an alphabet of 64 characters called codons"
Does the "random" number 64 resemble a binary code? All by chance…
"These two meanings probably developed in coordination with each other. "
Evolved by themselves randomly… ???
very interesting. A small note: it has been known for decades that DNA encodes two main "types" of information: 1. The code for creating proteins, which is found in segments called exons, where all three "letters" in DNA are encoded for one amino acid in the protein sequence during translation in the ribosome . 2. The code for controlling gene expression. Control sequences to which various proteins bind that affect the expression level of the gene (transcription). There is usually an area slightly before the point of the start of transcription, where many such link sequences are concentrated, and it is called a promoter. Transcription factors settle in the promoter, which determine whether (and how much) the gene will be expressed. In addition, there are more distant control sequences that work in a similar way, and are called enhancers, it should be remembered that DNA can fold so that distant points in the sequence, for example an enhancer and a promoter, can be physically close, and affect each other.
According to the abstract of the article (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6164/1367.abstract), what they discovered here is that sequences in the exons that code for the protein may also be used to control expression of the gene (I assume similar to the enhancer, although I haven't read the article itself). And this is not a rare thing. In fact, it is claimed that about 15% of the codons (the triples in the DNA that encodes the protein) are also used to control expression. Of course, this has all kinds of effects on the evolution of proteins, binding sites in DNA, etc. In addition, this means that there is a situation where problematic mutations in coding regions actually affect not only through changing the protein sequence, but also through influencing expression control.
In addition, it has been known for a long time that in organisms that require short and compact DNA, such as viruses for example, there is a similar situation (that coding sequences are also used to control expression).
Bottom line - it's clear that the research is interesting and innovative (otherwise it probably wouldn't have been published in Science). But, it's not like they discovered some new and mysterious function of DNA that they didn't know existed. It is already known that DNA has many "layers" of information - the layer that codes for proteins; the direct expression control layer (transcription factor binding); The "indirect" expression control layer (the packaging and compression of the DNA in the nucleus as chromatin, this can be said to be the "epigenetic" layer); and also the splicing control layer of the RNA expressed from the gene.
This. Hope that helped.