The discovery of DNA's double helix structure occurred more than 70 years ago. Scientists have found a new way to read this structure within genes. Many species of plants and animals have reference genomes which are used by researchers for their own genetic analysis. The soybean genome is used widely in agricultural research for commercial and industrial purposes. While the soybean reference genome may be very advanced, it was missing locations for transcription initiation sites for individual genes within it-- until now.
Transcription initiation sites are locations in DNA that act as the start of transcription, where an mRNA copy of DNA is synthesized to then be translated into a protein. By finding where these sites are within a genome, it allows for a better understanding of how genes are expressed. Normally, transcription initiation sites are located around a TATA box (a thymine and adenine rich DNA sequence), but researcher and major contributor to the soybean reference genome Jianxin Ma disagrees. He and his researchers found that the predicted transcription initiation sites on the reference gene had only about 3% accuracy based on their new study. They identified transcription initiation sites in roughly 40,000 genes. These sites had sequences that varied from what was normally expected. By further completing the database, it improves its effectiveness as a research tool for many geneticists.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241119181836.htm
https://academic.oup.com/plcell/advance-article/doi/10.1093/plcell/koae288/7900478#493737809
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