Revealed: the mysterious ‘dark’ proteins that might play a big role in biology

Some proteins (artist’s illustration) are being reclassified in databases as a result of the latest findings. Credit: Christoph Burgstedt/Getty The human genome contains around 20,000 genes that hold instructions for making working proteins, as most genetic databases now indicate. However, some scientists say there might be thousands more ‘dark proteins’ with unknown but potentially important roles in cells. …