According to a news release from the University of Washington, researchers have found a second code cloaked within DNA. This second code holds data that alters how researchers perceive the information enclosed in DNA and decipher changes to comprehend health and disease. The research is part of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements Project: an effort to find where and how the directions for biological behaviors are kept in the human genome.

Since the genetic code was understood in the 1960s, researchers have believed that it was utilized solely for the purpose of writing information about proteins. UW researchers were surprised to find that genomes utilize the genetic code to write two separate langauages. One details how proteins are constructed, and the other teaches the cell about how genes are managed. One language is written on top of the other, which is why the second language stayed unseen for so long.

“For over 40 years we have assumed that DNA changes affecting the genetic code solely impact how proteins are made,” noted John Stamatoyannopoulos, University of Washington associate professor of genome sciences and of medicine, in a statement. “Now we know that this basic assumption about reading the human genome missed half of the picture. These new findings highlight that DNA is an incredibly powerful information storage device, which nature has fully exploited in unexpected ways.”

The genetic code utilizes a 64-letter alphabet known as codons. The UW researchers found that some codons, which they refer to as duons, can have two meanings, one connected to protein sequence, and one connected to gene management. These two meanings appear to have developed at the same time as each other. The gene management instructions seem to aid with the stabilization of some helpful characteristics of proteins and how they are constructed.

The finding of duons has significant connotations for how researchers decipher a person’s genome.

“The fact that the genetic code can simultaneously write two kinds of information means that many DNA changes that appear to alter protein sequences may actually cause disease by disrupting gene control programs or even both mechanisms simultaneously,” posited Stamatoyannopoulos.

The results are described in greater detail in the journal Science.