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The human genome consists of 3 billion nucleotides or “letters” of DNA. But only a small percentage — 1.5 percent — of those letters are actually translated into proteins, the functional players in the body. The “exome” consists of all the genome’s exons, which are the coding portions of genes. The term exon was derived from “EXpressed regiON,” since these are the regions that get translated, or expressed as proteins, as opposed to the intron, or “INTRagenic regiON” which is not represented in the final protein.

Reading about the discovery of the to colleague Maurice Wilkins made me think about what kind of paper trail today’s leading scientists are leaving. (Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Crick and James Watson for their work on the DNA model.)

Last week, ӳ����ý researchers and others in the GIANT (Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits) Consortium published work revealing , the most yet identified for a single trait or disease. It may come as no surprise that stature is leading the pack when it comes to traits yielding their genetic secrets. Height is one of the easiest traits to measure, and studies on other traits and diseases often record subjects’ height, providing ample data for scientists.