Why Repetitive DNA Matters for Human Brain Evolution and Disease

Why repetitive DNA matters for human brain evolution and disease

For decades, large stretches of human DNA were dismissed as "junk" and considered to serve no real purpose. In a new study published in Cell Genomics, researchers at Lund University in Sweden show that the repetitive part of the human genome plays an active role during early brain development and may also be relevant for understanding brain diseases.

The Active Role of Repetitive DNA in the Human Brain Uncovered

For decades, vast regions of the human genome were dismissed as “junk DNA,” a genomic dark matter thought to be non-functional and evolutionarily irrelevant. However, a groundbreaking study from Lund University challenges this long-standing misconception by uncovering an active role for repetitive DNA sequences in early human brain development. Published recently in Cell Genomics, this […]