Nature Sub-Journal: A Better Way to Identify DNA Variations

Researchers at the University of Southern California have found a better way to identify the elusive DNA variations responsible for genetic changes that affect cell function and disease

Scientists at the university used computational biology tools to study the "variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR)" in DNA

Current methods cannot accurately detect gene mutations in some repetitive sequences

"This type of heavy DNA is called the'dark matter' of the human genome because it is difficult to sequence it and analyze how it changes," said Mark Chaisson, the corresponding author of the study.

The research was published in Nature Communications on July 12

The study also pointed out:

· As previous studies have shown, genetic code variation is the cause of Huntington’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS), schizophrenia, diabetes, and attention deficit disorder

· Although other tools based on algorithms have been developed to detect genetic variation, the information they provide is incomplete, especially for VNTR

· The new software tool developed by scientists at the University of Southern California is derived from the repetitive pan-genome map, a data structure that can encode population diversity on chromosomes and repetitions of VNTR positions to more accurately identify more gene sequences

(Biocom)

Original link:

http://dx.