Sunday, November 26, 2017

The most popular genes in the human genome



This article is about the many human genomes and how of all the genomes in the human body, very few of them have a majority of research done for them. Peter Kerpedjiev decided to catalog and systematically tag every paper in the PubMed database. From there he compiled the most researched genomes in humans. One genome in particular has some 6,600 papers written about it, and continues to have about 2 papers coming out per day. That genome is TP53. This gene is specifically referred to as the the guardian genome, as it is known as a tumor suppressor. With the increase of cancer research over time it is no wonder that this is an extremely researched gene. Over the course of Peter's cataloging, he noticed that out of 20,000 or so protein coding genes, just 100 account account for more than a quarter of all papers written. Second on that list of the most popular gene in the human genome is the TNF gene. TNF stands for tumor necrosis factor, and is a common drug target for cancer and inflammatory diseases. I think this article is interesting because there is a great deal of research being done in all areas, but with so many papers coming out about the same topics, maybe more research should be done elsewhere. It is extremely important that scientists zero in on the important genes, but maybe more answers lie where everyone isn't looking.




https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-017-07291-9

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/TP53

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/TNF

http://dbmi.hms.harvard.edu/person/postdoctoral-fellows/peter-kerpedjiev

3 comments:

  1. I can see why there is so much research done on these specific genes, due to their importance in developing a treatment for cancer. When researchers note things in their experiments that have already been published I think it is good because then there is more evidence as to why something is true. With these numbers it does seem a bit ridiculous with two papers on average coming out a day on the TP53 gene. With cancer being such a big health risk in today's society, it is understandable that many scientists want to experiment with these genes.

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  2. Its interesting to see how two of the most important genomes are related to cancer or tumors. I agree with a lot of researchers because it can lead to many discoveries about the cancer or even the genome that wasn't ever looked at. This could lead different approaches for treatments.

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  3. it makes sense to do the most reaserch on genes that could lead to new cancer treatments. If we can exploit genes that would strengthen our natural defense of cancer or possibly prefent the deactivation of the gene from an epigenetic stand point.

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