Scientists made the most important discovery - they found the genes that appeared in humans after it separated from other primates. This enables experts to better understand what exactly makes us human, writes Health-ua. Org.

In the field of molecular evolution, the prevailing view is that new genes can only be duplicated and reconstructed versions of already existing genes. It seems highly unlikely that evolution could produce a functional protein-encoding gene from an inactive DNA. Be that as it may, recent discoveries indicate that this still happens. Scientists have discovered genes that were formed from non-protein DNA coding in fruit flies, in yeast and in primates. Until today, a person has not found such genes, and this discovery raises the fascinating question of how these genes make us different from other primates, according to an online edition for girls and women aged 14 to 35. Pannochka. Net David Knowles and Aoife McLysaght from Trinity College in Dublin have attempted to discover unique protein-encoding genes for humans. After long and large-scale studies, they settled on three genes - CLLU1, C22orf45 and DNAH10OS. Their next task was to demonstrate that these parts of the DNA in humans really are working.

Experts analyzed the data and proved that these three genes are actively transcribed and translated into proteins. However, now they had to demonstrate that the corresponding DNA sequences in other primates are inactive. Sequences resembling CLLU1, C22orf45, and DNAH10OS were also found in other primates, but they could not be full genes and were present in the non-protein encoding DNA.

The authors emphasize that due to very strict selection criteria, scientists were able to fully study only about 20 percent of the genes selected for analysis. They predict that in the future will be found in total about 18 unique for human genes, formed from non-coding DNA in the process of evolution. Today's discovery is an outstanding achievement, but it raises a broader question: what do the proteins encoded by these genes do?.

Medicinform. Net.

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