Gene deserts

Gene deserts

Genetic contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders

Published in Anna L. Barnett, Elisabeth L. Hill, Understanding Motor Behaviour in Developmental Coordination Disorder, 2019

Dianne F. Newbury

Another surprise finding from the Human Genome Project was the fact that the exonic coding modules make up only 1–2% of the genome. Intronic sequences make up an additional 25%. The remainder is accounted for by “gene deserts” which contain regulatory sequences, repeat elements and encode functional molecules that do not take a protein form (Lander et al., 2001).

MYC, MYCL, and MYCN as therapeutic targets in lung cancer

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Journal Information

Published in Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, 2020

Daniel Massó-Vallés, Marie-Eve Beaulieu, Laura Soucek

MYC maps to the long arm of chromosome 8 at 8q24.1 region [38,39]. Sequencing of the human genome revealed that there are no known functional protein-coding genes anywhere near the MYC gene, an area called ‘gene desert’ [32]. This massive desert (∼3 Mb) occupies nearly all the chromosomal band 8q24 and is observed in all mammals, and vertebrates, although it is smaller in more primitive species. Transcription of MYC is controlled by multiple transcription factors including CNBP, FuBP1, and TCF, as well as by structural DNA elements such as G4 quadruplexes [40].

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Genetic contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders

MYC, MYCL, and MYCN as therapeutic targets in lung cancer