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About 5 percent of the mammalian genome is conserved by evolution. Surprisingly, less than a third of that consists of protein-coding genes. The rest of this sequence, known as conserved noncoding sequences (CNCs), is of growing interest to scientists, both as a clue to how genomes work and because variations within CNCs may contribute to human disease. Are CNCs actually functional bits of sequence and, if so, what do they do?

Fungi are well known as the trespassers that blemish or contaminate food. But it is perhaps less appreciated that our existence is forever intertwined with and even dependent upon them. In three articles published in the December 22 issue of Nature, an international group of scientists report new genetic data and tools that help define what makes a fungus friend or foe.