ENCODE

Learn how the ENCODE project helps scientists in understanding the way our genome is organized and regulatedSee all videos for this article

ENCODE, in full Encyclopedia of DNA Elements, collaborative data-collection project begun in 2003 that aimed to inventory all the functional elements of the human genome. ENCODE was conceived by researchers at the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) as a follow-on to the Human Genome Project (HGP; 1990–2003), which had produced a massive amount of DNA sequence data but had not involved comprehensive analysis of specific genomic elements.

The information compiled by ENCODE scientists was envisioned to serve as a kind of guidebook, facilitating the study of components of the human genome that contribute to the function of cells and tissues and that therefore have implications for human health and disease. It also provided important insight for the study of human evolution and genetics, ultimately generating data that not only suggested that vast regions of the genome once considered to be nonfunctional were indeed functionally important but also challenged the basic concept of a gene.