Decoding the Language of Genomes

This approach appears to work well for E. coli and other organisms with streamlined genomes and large population sizes. One of the challenges with studying gene expression in humans is that it is quite noisy with regard to identifiable function (i.e., contribution to reproduction, however indirectly).

Biologists tend to treat gene expression as functional. In E. coli, this is much more likely to be true than for humans. First, E. coli is a single-cell organism so there is not conflict in differential regulation across cell types. Second, E. coli has a large population relative to its information content, which allows natural selection to operate more efficiently.

mRNA transcription (i.e., gene expression) by itself is relatively inexpensive, so natural selection only weakly optimizes expression in multicellular organisms with small populations. Protein production is much more expensive and is under stronger selection.

> Throughout the last five years, we have failed repeatedly. We have mislabeled tubes and used ethanol instead of water to dilute DNA. We have dropped flasks, shattering glass and spilling bacteria on the floor. We have been frustrated, again and again. But we continued on, inching closer to mastery over the molecular wiring of genomes. In the future, we’d like to extend this work to other organisms; perhaps even humans.

This. I love the honesty about the scientific process. This is completely lost to most science students while they cram facts before an exam. The road to most beautiful discoveries is often paved with lots of fumbles.

Rob Phillips is a very unconventional scientist. Think Vin Diesel but a genius.