Genetics are essential in nature, however, although they share the same DNA, two twins are not exactly the same. Research that has just been published in the journal Science appears to have solved the mystery. Some regions of DNA that do not code for proteins but that decrease or increase the expression of genes are responsible for some features, such as the shape of the face.
To test the importance of these enhancers in the shape of the skull and face, the researchers chose non-coding regions of the mouse genome . Subsequently, they analyzed the expression of said enhancers thanks to a three-dimensional craniofacial model of the mice. And finally they selectively removed these enhancers and re-analyzed the effect it had on gene expression and craniofacial morphology during development.
Thanks to this they were able to verify that by eliminating these enhancers the shape of the skull and the face of the mice changed, despite having exactly the same DNA. This verification would explain why two twins, despite sharing the same genetic code, are different. Or what is the same, there are no two faces exactly the same .
“We have identified thousands of short pieces of DNA (enhancers) that are active when the face and skull are in development during the embryonic process,” explains Axel Visel, a researcher at the Joint Genome Institute (USA), to the scientific news agency SINC. ) and one of the study authors. ” We have been able to create a map of the genome that indicates where exactly they are located ,” says the researcher.
As the scientists point out, because many craniofacial enhancers are located in regions of the genome associated with defects in certain parts of the face, such as clefts of the lip or palate, research opens a door to find non-coding sequences related to these differences .
