Stepping Into the Unknome database

There is always more to discover!

Incredible even Drosophila still has 260 unknown genes! What! This is the most studied biological object of all times!

"In the last two years, scientists achieved two genomic milestones: the complete sequences of the human non-Y genome and, just this past August, that of the Y chromosome. With the final pages of the human genetic playbook complete, plenty of mysteries remain, including the function of many of the 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. To encourage research on these many mystery genes, a team of scientists have created a new publicly available database that ranks genes based on how little is known about them. Using this new directory, they selected more than 200 neglected genes that are evolutionarily conserved between fruit flies and humans. The systematic silencing of these genes in fruit flies revealed that many are essential for survival and other important biological functions, demonstrating that there is still much to be explored in the vast unknowns in the genome. ...
An initial screen revealed that nearly 25 percent of the unknown genes were essential for survival. ..."

From the abstract:

"The human genome encodes approximately 20,000 proteins, many still uncharacterised. It has become clear that scientific research tends to focus on well-studied proteins, leading to a concern that poorly understood genes are unjustifiably neglected. To address this, we have developed a publicly available and customisable “Unknome database” that ranks proteins based on how little is known about them. We applied RNA interference (RNAi) in Drosophila to 260 unknown genes that are conserved between flies and humans. Knockdown of some genes resulted in loss of viability, and functional screening of the rest revealed hits for fertility, development, locomotion, protein quality control, and resilience to stress. CRISPR/Cas9 gene disruption validated a component of Notch signalling and 2 genes contributing to male fertility. Our work illustrates the importance of poorly understood genes, provides a resource to accelerate future research, and highlights a need to support database curation to ensure that misannotation does not erode our awareness of our own ignorance."

Stepping Into the Unknome | The Scientist Magazine® A database of neglected genes may help unlock the mysteries hiding in the overlooked regions of the proteome.

Functional unknomics: Systematic screening of conserved genes of unknown function (open access)

Fig 1. The Unknome database.