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A new, comprehensive catalog of differences in gene expression across dozens of human tissue types reveals previously unknown connections between genes and their regulatory DNA, researchers report today (September 10).
The work, unveiled in a series of papers published in Science, Science Advances, Cell, and other journals, details the third and final part of the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, which launched more than a decade ago to explore population-specific and sex-specific differences in gene expression to glean insight into how those differences may play a role in aging and disease.
During the course of the project, the researchers collected samples of multiple tissue types from more than 900 deceased human donors. The team then sequenced the donors’ genomes and measured gene activity by quantifying RNA levels in the tissues. Having multiple tissues from the same person, as well as a variety of donors, the GTEx team could ...