It has been claimed that because most of our DNA is active, it must be important, but now human-plant hybrid cells have been ...

Junk DNA may not be so useless after all. Scientists coined the term to describe the genetic wasteland within the human genome that consists of long stretches of DNA for which there was no known ...

Imagine the human genome as a string stretching out for the length of a football field, with all the genes that encode proteins clustered at the end near your feet. Take two big steps forward; all the ...

Only around two percent of the human genome codes for proteins, and while those proteins carry out many important functions of the cell, the rest of the genome cannot be ignored. However, for decades ...

So-called junk DNA was given that unfortunate nickname because its function was so mysterious. These vast regions of the genome do not code for protein and are made up of highly repetitive sequences.

Researchers have identified elusive DNA switches in brain support cells that influence genes tied to Alzheimer’s disease. When people think about DNA, they often picture genes that determine our ...

Some 8 to 10 percent of our DNA is actually leftover from ancient viruses that co-evolved with animal DNA for hundreds of a millions of years. While scientists have long thought this DNA was “junk,” ...

For many genetic diseases, disabling or editing a gene using CRISPR is insufficient to overcome the effects of the underlying genetic mutation. A corrective gene needs to be added to the genome to fix ...

A new international study suggests that ancient viral DNA embedded in our genome, which were long dismissed as genetic “junk”, may actually play powerful roles in regulating gene expression. A new ...

These genes are part of the non-coding genome, which makes up about 98% of our DNA and was long dismissed as “junk.” This new ...