Mapping non-sense

Joining the throng of maps and atlasses that aim to chart genomes, exomes and proteomes, NIH's latest project - the Roadmap Epigenomics Mapping Consortium - has published the first 111 epigenomic signatures from primary human cells and tissues, as step one of its plan to produce a comprehensive catalog of genomic modifications that control gene expression. But while the data might reveal disease mechanisms, translating them to therapeutics will likely take a long time.

Whereas most of the other "-omics" studies focus on coding regions of the genome or their products, the epigenomics analysis is centered entirely on the vast regions of non-coding DNA that contain signals to dictate which genes are turned on and off, and when. ...