Researchers have compiled a database of genes that are poorly understood, aiming to increase our knowledge of our genetic blueprints. These genes exist and code for proteins, but their functions remain unknown. The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in the UK highlights the concern that poorly understood genes are often neglected due to the focus on well-studied proteins in scientific research.
"It has become clear that scientific research tends to focus on well-studied proteins, leading to a concern that poorly understood genes are unjustifiably neglected,""To address this, we have developed a publicly available and customizable 'Unknome database'.", containing tens of thousands of genes.but there are still tens of thousands of these genes that remain mysterious.
They include funding and peer reviewed systems being more skewed towards supporting research on genes with already proven clinical importance, or genes that are more abundant or more widespread across laboratory species. To demonstrate how this database can be used, the researchers then took a sample of 260 of our genes ranked as highly unknown in the database that could also be found in the laboratory fly,They systematically deleted the shared genes in developing flies. Many of the flies did not survive, demonstrating the proteins each of these genes codes for play a crucial role in animal biology.molecular biologist Sean Munro.
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