[ExI] DNA - It's complicated!

[BillK]

On Sat, Dec 14, 2013 at 12:17 PM, Anders Sandberg  wrote:
> Note that checking statistical associations between SNPs and disease states
> will not tell you whether the link happens because of mutations in genes,
> changes in gene expression or some stuff with transcription factors. It just
> tells you that if there is variation X at site Y the odds change by Z.
>
> Rather hypish articles, but at least Forbes linked to
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2013/12/13/dont-be-duped-by-duon-dna-hype/
>
>

After more searching it does appear that the PR department has hyped
up the research. (In today's world everybody wants publicity to get
fame and more funding!).

But I think they still have a significant new discovery.
Even a rant against the PR still gives them some credit:
<http://www.bacteriatobonobos.com/1/post/2013/12/go-home-pr-team-youre-drunk.html>

Quote:
The main conclusions of this new study by Dr. John Stamatoyannopoulos
and his colleagues is that these regions are more pervasively
contained within coding-sequences than previously believed – 87% of
genes (from the 81 cell types investigated) contained them.
Moreover, they found that these regulatory sequences determine the
structure of proteins themselves by preferentially choosing some amino
acids (the building blocks of proteins) over others. Consequently, if
a mutation resulted in the selection of different protein structures,
they have the potential to catalyze evolutionary change. Finally, with
a large proportion of disease-associated DNA sequences being found
within these duons, this study reveals a myriad of insights into the
overlooked process of gene regulation within exons.
----------------

So, what was previously thought to be a rare complexity, is now known
to be a common complexity throughout DNA.
Multi-use means genetic modification is not a simple 'change one input
and get one output change'. You are likely to get multiple output
changes. And these multiple changes may not be noticed if you are only
looking for your one intended change.


BillK