‘Dark DNA’ Is the Latest Mystery in the World of Genetics… But What Is It?
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Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries of astronomy today. There’s tons of evidence that it’s there, but try as we might we haven’t been able to find it. In biology there’s a similar problem: dark DNA. When scientists were exploring the sequenced genomes of certain birds and rodents they noticed something odd. A sequenced genome means everything is laid bare, and yet certain DNA sequences were missing, which was weird because these DNA sequences were very important. They controlled the production of leptin in the birds or the secretion of insulin in the rodents, genes that the scientists knew had to be there, otherwise they’d have some mighty obese birds and dead rodents on their hands. What’s more, the scientists studying the rodents...
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Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries of astronomy today. There’s tons of evidence that it’s there, but try as we might we haven’t been able to find it. In biology there’s a similar problem: dark DNA. When scientists were exploring the sequenced genomes of certain birds and rodents they noticed something odd. A sequenced genome means everything is laid bare, and yet certain DNA sequences were missing, which was weird because these DNA sequences were very important. They controlled the production of leptin in the birds or the secretion of insulin in the rodents, genes that the scientists knew had to be there, otherwise they’d have some mighty obese birds and dead rodents on their hands. What’s more, the scientists studying the rodents...
