DNA 'Knockouts' Reveal Genes Humans Don't Need (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit writes: Although humans have about 20,000 genes, exactly what most of them do inside our body's cells is still murky. One way to learn more is to find people who lack a working copy of a particular gene and see how that affects their health. Such so-called knockouts are scarce in the general population. But a new study points to a more efficient way to find them: Search the DNA of people from a culture in which marrying a relative is common. The study has found a number of genes that we seemingly can do without, including those thought to prevent serious diseases. And one healthy mother completely lacked a gene called PRDM9 that is involved in shuffling chromosomes during the formation of eggs and sperm. Mice lacking the gene are sterile.

Comments

Sphagetti code

[sinij]

Our genome is spaghetti code of the worst kind. If God exists, he is horrible coder.

Re:Sphagetti code

[PvtVoid]

Horrible from a human perspective. He is transcendent, we are just too dumb to understand the inner beauty.

That's what I tell people about my code all the time.

Re:Sphagetti code

[Tablizer]

Our genome is spaghetti code of the worst kind. If God exists, he is horrible coder.

It's been obfuscated for security. He/she doesn't want humans mucking with it.

Re:value of the "million genome project"

[sinij]

Next combine this with metadata gathered by NSA, and we could know exactly whom to show penis enlargement adds.

Plot twist

[wardrich86]

Plot twist: The genomes they lack are the ones that keep the rest of us from wanting to marry our siblings and cousins. Could this be the beginning of the end?

Defense in-depth

[ThatsNotPudding]

What one fool would call 'junk DNA', the ox-slow grinding of disease and toxins would call a chance for a few members of the species to survive a near-extinction event.