RT... LifeMap Sciences, a Subsidiary of BioTime, Announces Publication of Research Report Describing Non-Redundant Compendium of Human Non-Coding RNA Authored by GeneCards(R) Scientists
Report shows the existence of a^ 1/480,000 human non-redundant non-coding RNAs covering 71% of the human genome, slightly less than the ENCODE prediction of 80%
ALAMEDA, Calif., Jan 30, 2013 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- LifeMap Sciences, Inc., a subsidiary of BioTime, Inc. (nyse mkt:BTX), announced today the publication of a paper authored by a research group under the supervision of Prof. Doron Lancet from the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science describing the analysis and display of a non-redundant compendium of human non-coding RNA genes, which was made available as part of GeneCards(R) Version 3.09, released November 18, 2012. LifeMap Sciences holds the exclusive worldwide license to market GeneCards(R) from Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd., the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
Non-coding RNA (ncRNA) genes are increasingly acknowledged for their importance in the human genome, and are implicated in various disease processes. Therefore they are of interest to many academic and industry researchers in various biomedical fields, and to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies engaged in discovery and development of diagnostic and therapeutic products. The ENCODE project Click for Detail, launched in 2003 has recently predicted that ~80% of all genomic territories are transcribed in one fashion or another. In the GeneCards(R) publication, in the journal Bioinformatics Click for Detail, the scientists leveraged the effective platform of GeneCards(R) to unify all ncRNA gene entries obtained from 15 different primary data sources. Overlapping entries were clustered to unified locations based on an algorithm employing genomic coordinates, resulting in a a^ 1/45-fold increase, to a total of a^ 1/480,000 human non-redundant ncRNAs, belonging to 14 classes. The total genome territory covered is 71% of the human genome, slightly less than the ENCODE prediction. This difference may be due to dataset input and computation discrepancies or may represent ncRNA genes still awaiting identification and characterization.
GeneCards(R) is a comprehensive online database that provides concise genomic information on all known and predicted human genes. With over 12 million page visits per year from hundreds of thousands of unique users worldwide, GeneCards(R) is accessed by professionals in academia, research hospitals, patent offices, and leading biotech and pharma companies. GeneCards(R) was developed, and is continuously enhanced by ongoing research, by the bioinformatics team at the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, with principal investigator Professor Doron Lancet, head of the Crown Human Genome Center, and team leader Marilyn Safran.
"It is wonderful to see how GeneCards(R) allowed us to overcome the great obstacles of grand unification of ncRNA genes. This allows scientists to make discoveries on biological and disease-related roles for genes belonging to this newly open vista of the human genome," said Professor Doron Lancet, Ph.D., The Ralph D. and Lois R. Silver Professor of Human Genomics, at the Weizmann Institute of Science.
"The addition of detailed annotated ncRNAs information, while providing the big picture on ncRNAs is a significant addition to GeneCards(R)," stated Yaron Guan-Golan, Head of Marketing at LifeMap Sciences. "We have already seen substantial interest from companies and academic users to access this new information for their research and product discovery efforts. We believe that this new information, and the synergies between GeneCards(R), MalaCards, and LifeMap Discovery(TM) will significantly enhance basic research, and contribute greatly to the discovery and development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic products and technologies."
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