IBM scientists have discovered that parts of the human genome once thought functionally obsolete may be important after all.

As published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, regions of the human genome that were assumed to contain mostly evolutionary leftovers (called "junk DNA") may actually hold significant clues that can add to understanding of cellular processes. IBM scientists have discovered that these regions contain numerous, short DNA "motifs," or repeating sequence fragments, which also are present in the parts of the genome that give rise to proteins.

Eventhough it must be verified by experiments, the discovery suggests a correlation between the coding and non-coding parts of the human genome that could have an impact on genomic research and provide insights on the workings of cells.

"Our goal is to apply advanced computational techniques to analyze the workings of processes and systems, in this case the function of the human genome," said Ajay Royyuru, head of the Computational Biology Center at IBM Research. "Using these tools, we've been able to shed new light on parts of the DNA that were traditionally thought of as not having a specific purpose. We believe the innovative application of technology can provide further understanding in the life sciences at large".

The IBM team used a mathematical tool called pattern-discovery -- often used to mine useful information from very large repositories of data -- to sift through the some 6 billion letters in the non-coding regions of the genome and look for motifs.



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