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 ...

When most of us think of DNA, we have a vague idea it's made up of genes that give us our physical features, our behavioral ...

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 ...

Scientists at Sydney’s Centenary Institute report that the 97% of human DNA long referred to as junk can actually play a significant role in controlling cell development. Based in the institute’s gene ...

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 ...