A program that teaches itself to recognise the DNA patterns in silenced genes could help us better understand many diseases.
Mammals, including us, have two copies of each gene: one from the mother and one from the father. Normally, both are expressed, but occasionally one is imprinted, or silenced, which gives the other the deciding role. If this active gene is a mutation that would otherwise have been recessive, it can lead to disease. Conversely, if the silenced gene is harmful in some way, imprinting can be beneficial.
Investigating this phenomenon is difficult, however, as often the only distinguishing feature of an imprinted gene is that it has a methyl group attached, and this doesn't show up in ordinary gene scans. Although 1 per cent of the 20,000 genes found on chromosomes 1 to 23 are estimated to be imprinted, only 40 have actually been found. "If you went through ...
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