Revealed: the mysterious ‘dark’ proteins that might play a big role in biology
Nature • • science
Key Points:
- The human genome is known to contain around 20,000 protein-coding genes, but scientists have identified thousands of additional "dark proteins" encoded by genomic regions previously thought to be non-coding.
- These dark proteins, now officially named "peptideins," have been incorporated into major gene and protein databases to encourage research into their functions, some of which are linked to diseases including childhood cancers.
- Peptideins are typically short, lack evolutionary relatives, and are often encoded near or overlapping known protein-coding genes, which contributed to their prior exclusion from official protein catalogs.
- The TransCODE Consortium analyzed thousands of potential dark proteins and found strong experimental evidence for only 15 to be included in official gene catalogs, while many others remain poorly understood.
- Researchers emphasize that although many peptideins may be cellular by-products without clear functions, their discovery represents a significant breakthrough that could open new avenues in biological and medical research.
