Communications of the ACM
Epigenomics Now
Credit: Angellodeco
For nearly a quarter-century, we have had a (mostly) complete listing of the human genome, the three-billion "letter" sequence of DNA, most of which is the same for all of us. This reference copy makes it much easier for scientists to understand biological processes and to identify the individual variations, such as mutations, that contribute to disease. Despite its central role and its extreme usefulness, however, the genome's impact on healthcare has been smaller than many proponents had hoped.
Part of the reason is that while most of the cells in the human body carry identical DNA, the biological activity of different regions varies widely over time and between different tissues. It is these differences in gene expression that orchestrate the intricate development of tissues and the unique features of various cell types, as well as much of the misbehavior of cells in disease.
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