The team then found their counterparts in several species of primate, and also in the mouse, and compared the ratio of pseudogenes with intact, functional genes across the species.

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The goal is to move from having to merely tweak the proteins that are used as biotech drugs to being able to design them, even taking material from multiple organisms and using them to create new, functional genes.

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Humans have 1, 000 such genes (25% of which are functional), which have receptors similar to those involved in vision, Stryer's area of expertise.

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This vast majority of genetic material known as functional noncoding DNA, mostly embedded within and around the genes, was thought to play an important but murky role in regulating how the coding genes go about their business.

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Functional genomics goes the next step, trying to figure out what those genes and proteins actually do.

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