3. Sieving Through 'Junk' DNA Reveals Disease-Causing Genetic Mutations

     Non-coding region of DNA, which also has been called 'junk' DNA was found out to be an origin of mutations that cause all kinds of cancers followed by research team from Yale University. The research team used the first phase of the 1000 Genomes Project of genetic variants including the non-coding regions information. Then, they could determine the regions to show low levels of variation as protein-coding regions, and named them 'ultra-sensitive' regions. In the ultra-sensitive region, they found out a specific DNA region was causing severe disturbances on genetic region which might occur knock-on effect, resulting in diseases. This is such a influential discovery not only welcomed for cancer research but can also widen to a research field of genetic disease.

Source:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131003142321.htm