The ENCODE project (for ENCyclopedia
Of DNA Elements)
is a scientific reconnaissance mission aimed at discovering
all
regions of the
human genome that are crucial to biological function. Scientists
have focused on finding the genes, or protein-coding regions,
in DNA sequences, but these account for only about 1.5% of
the genetic
material of humans and other mammals. While compelling evidence
exists that other parts of the genome must have important functions,
at present we have only very limited information about how
they work. The ENCODE project is developing a comprehensive ‘parts
list’ of the human genome by identifying and precisely
locating all functional elements in our DNA sequence.
This
project, sponsored by the National Human Genome Research Institute
(NHGRI), involves an international consortium of scientists
from government, industry, and academia.
The UCSC group is the data collection center for the entire project, providing the database and web interface
for all sequence-related data for the ENCODE project.
This includes
mapping
experimental data to specific human sequence coordinates,
integrating the data into the UCSC Human Genome Browser
on specialized tracks,
and providing more in-depth information on detail pages.
UCSC also develops, performs, and presents computational
and comparative
analyses to glean further genomic and functional information
from
the collective data.
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