Our genes appear to be more complex, their messages can be spliced in different ways. The information goes to show how much humans are alike, rather than different. Racial and ethnic differences are, indeed, only skin deep. But to researchers who study the proteins that genes direct cells to make, the news is neither startling nor upsetting. In fact, the finding speaks volumes about the diversity of proteins that make us naked apes and not microscopic worms, genetics researchers say.
Biological function does come down eventually to the protein level.
In other words, genes may be the masterminds of human development, but it's the proteins that do all the heavy lifting. By identifying which proteins are essential for normal human health and development and which are related to diseases, researchers hope to develop drugs that could treat a wide range of diseases such as cancer and heart disease by targeting specific proteins. What really counts is not the number of genes, but the number of ways in which those genes are rearranged to make different versions of proteins, explains Stan Fields, PhD, an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Washington in Seattle. Douglas Wallace, PhD, director of the Center for Molecular Medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, isn't too worried that he or his colleagues will run out of work anytime soon. Wallace and other researchers are attempting to develop methods for high-speed, computerized methods for analyzing large numbers of proteins in a very short time.