This is either because they cause no change in the composition of the protein that the gene encodes (some apparently different genetic words actually have the same meaning to the protein-making apparatus), or because the change they make has no effect on the protein's function.

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Scientists thought for years that the protein's only function was to help shuttle cholesterol around the body.

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The idea is this: Kalydeco works by improving the function of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Regulator protein.

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Given that many protein structures have the same function, for example, why do proteins use only some and not others?

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Dr Dobson and Dr Serrano have now shown that mutations, used judiciously, can actually suppress it and that they can do so without changing the protein's structure and function.

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But as yet there is no smoking gun - a protein involved in regulating brain function, say - that may have caused our ape-like ancestors to branch off from chimps.

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Children with the disease have a genetic mutation that causes them to produce the protein progerin, which blocks normal cell function.

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For one thing, the drug seemed to decrease patient's lung function--apparently the result of the way the insulin, a big, complicated protein, was delivered into the lungs.

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