Very recommendable!
When current scientists in the 21st century don't understand something they still call it dark (e.g. like dark energy) reminiscent of the Dark Ages!
"In 2009, scientists spotted ribosomes — cellular machines that build proteins from RNA instructions — churning out thousands of ‘dark proteins’ from regions of the human genome that weren’t thought to encode them. These peptides tend to be short and structurally dissimilar to other proteins, and 15 years later it’s still not clear how many of them perform essential functions for a cell. But researchers are increasingly finding that some of them might help to drive cancers or play a role in immunity, leading several companies to develop drugs or immunotherapies that target dark proteins."
"... Dark proteins tend to be short — often just a few dozen amino acids or fewer. And many are unfamiliar — they don’t have close relatives in the genomes of other organisms.
Studies suggest that some could have essential roles in the cell and might influence human health. They seem to be abundant in some cancers, and several companies hope to develop treatments that target dark proteins. But for many of these mysterious entities, the evidence that they’re doing anything important — or even whether they survive for very long in the cell — is equivocal. ..."
‘Dark proteins’ hiding in our cells could hold clues to cancer and other diseases "The human genome encodes potentially thousands of tiny proteins that were previously overlooked. The search is on to find out what they do."
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