A new study has confirmed that human, worm, and fly genomes have a lot of processes in common.
Experts from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) studied the gene expression patterns and regulatory proteins that in the three species often shared similar features, according to a release issued by the institute.
Researchers also outlined the similar ways in which the three species used protein packaging to compact DNA into the cell nucleus and to regulate genome function by controlling access to DNA.
Mark Gerstein, the lead author on one of the papers, said that one way to describe and understand the human genome was by studying model organisms and through comparative genomics.
Their work was published this week in the journal Nature.
"This paper is important since it is the first time such distant species have been compared in such an accurate manner", explains Sarah Djebali, co-author of this paper and researcher at the CRG, according to the Science Codex.
In all three organisms, the gene expression levels for both protein-coding and non-protein-coding genes could be predicted from chromatin features at the promoters of genes, which tells the cell's machinery where to start copying DNA into RNA so that it can be used to make proteins, according to the release.
"These findings give us a map of highly important regions of the genome that will guide the scientific community in future research projects related to cell biology and, in extension, to disease", adds Dr. Djebali.
Gerstein added that the worm and fly were very distant from humans evolutionarily, so discovering something conserved across all three showed that it was a very fundamental and ancient process, according to the release.
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