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Strange DNA Structures Found in The Human Genome Go Beyond The Double Helix
['Peter Dockrill']
ScienceAlert
In a study last year, scientists identified where these "non-canonical" forms of DNA (aka non-B DNA) emerge in human and other primate genomes.
Illustration of primates and their representative chromosomes, with canonical helical and non-B DNA formations.
"We found an overrepresentation of most types of non-B DNA motifs in the newly added sequences of the human T2T genome," the researchers write in their paper.
Overall, the researchers found many non-B DNA motifs in the human genome were located in satellite DNA – repeating sections of non-coding DNA, and often involved in chromosome organization and stability.
In ape genomes, non-B motifs were unevenly distributed.