Repetitive pieces of DNA, previously thought to be “junk”, play an important role in regulating how genes are expressed, according to a recent study.
Short Tandem Repeats (STRs), are sections of DNA which are repeated, similar to a stutter. Researchers found STRs are able to fine tune the expression of nearby genes, and that different lengths of STRs control disease traits such as Crohn’s disease or high blood pressure.
The researchers are calling these variants eSTRs, or expression STRs. This is the first study to perform a genome-wide analysis of STRs in gene expression.
Original research paper published in Nature Genetics on December 7, 2015.
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