{"id":63958,"date":"2012-10-18T17:34:51","date_gmt":"2012-10-18T20:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=63958"},"modified":"2013-01-24T13:25:27","modified_gmt":"2013-01-24T15:25:27","slug":"what-is-it-what-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/what-is-it-what-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"What is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-63961\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/011_Wiki_200-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"290\" height=\"142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/011_Wiki_200-2.jpg 290w, https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/011_Wiki_200-2-250x122.jpg 250w, https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/011_Wiki_200-2-120x59.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><span class=\"media-credits-inline\">DANIEL BUENO<\/span>Researchers got a surprise when they finished sequencing all the human genetic material in 2000:\u00a0 human beings only have about 30,000 genes.\u00a0 This number is nearly the same as corn, which has approximately 20,000.\u00a0 In addition to the relatively small number, scientists were intrigued by another detail.\u00a0 They knew that genes made up the characteristics of each individual, but results showed that 45% of the DNA did not appear to have any function.\u00a0 That is why it was called Junk DNA, a name it carries today. As time passes, new studies show that Junk DNA is essential for regulating and controlling gene expression.\u00a0 In other words, it determines the stem cell differentiation in neurons, for example.\u00a0 If the Junk DNA expresses itself in the wrong way or at the wrong time, it can\u00a0 cause tumors to form. The issue was revisited in September with the publication of results from the Encode project, involving researchers from several countries who say they have determined how 80% of the Junk DNA work.\u00a0 Encode showed that this universe of 30,000 genes may be like a cake recipe in which taste and appearance may be completely different, depending on how the ingredients are added and mixed together.\u00a0 This vast combination of genes explains why people are so different from one another.\u00a0 Encode is now trying to determine which genetic compositions cause people to have, or prevents them from having, a particular disease.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Marie-Anne Van Sluys,<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Junk DNA","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[170],"tags":[237],"coauthors":[93],"class_list":["post-63958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wiki-en","tag-genetics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63958"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=63958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}