Into the dark – finding meaning within the depth of our proteome
Thu Feb 05 2026
For decades, biology treated the human genome as a tidy instruction manual—genes neatly encoding proteins, surrounded by vast stretches of supposedly irrelevant DNA. As sequencing and molecular tools advanced, that picture fractured: scientists uncovered transposable elements, viral remnants, regulatory RNAs—and even unexpected, tiny non-canonical proteins, often called the “dark proteome.”
Today, we know that much of this presumed “junk” DNA is biochemically active under specific conditions, forming an interconnected network of regulatory elements, mobile sequences, non-coding RNAs, and largely uncharacterized proteins. Some scientists believe this dark genomic layer acts as an adaptive reserve, helping genomes respond to stress, disease, and environmental change.
In this episode Andreas Horchler and Louise von Stechow have a fascinating discussion with Dr. Sudhakaran Prabakaran, Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University, CEO of biotech NonExomics, and author of the upcoming book Eclipsed Horizons, which explores the dark genome, the proteome, evolution, and speculative futures for both humanity and the planet.
Find Dr. Sudhakaran Prabakaran https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudhakaranprabakaran/
Find the Eclipsed Horizons https://sites.google.com/view/sudhakaranprabakaran/book
Disclaimer:
Louise von Stechow & Andreas Horchler and their guests express their personal opinions, which are founded on research on the respective topics, but do not claim to give medical, investment or even life advice in the podcast.
Learn more about the future of biotech in our podcasts and keynotes. Contact us here:
scientific communication: https://science-tales.com/
Podcasts: https://www.podcon.de/
Keynotes: https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/louise-von-stechow
Image Unsplash via NASA
Further Reading on the dark genome, proteome and beyond
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5065367/
2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2998295/
3. https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/educational-resources/fact-sheets/human-genome-project
4. https://www.nature.com/articles/538275a
5. https://www.nature.com/articles/512009e
6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7366731/
7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15496913/
8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982212011542
9. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/genomics/encode-project.html
10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269899103_Junk_or_functional_DNA_ENCODE_and_the_function_controversy
11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19213877/
12. https://www.nature.com/articles/520615a
13. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11311765/
14. https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pmic.202100211
15. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12701996/
16. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9757701/
17. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6429
18. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32139545/
19. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38176414/
20. https://panspermia.org/mcclintocknrg2023.pdf
21. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1912725116
More
For decades, biology treated the human genome as a tidy instruction manual—genes neatly encoding proteins, surrounded by vast stretches of supposedly irrelevant DNA. As sequencing and molecular tools advanced, that picture fractured: scientists uncovered transposable elements, viral remnants, regulatory RNAs—and even unexpected, tiny non-canonical proteins, often called the “dark proteome.” Today, we know that much of this presumed “junk” DNA is biochemically active under specific conditions, forming an interconnected network of regulatory elements, mobile sequences, non-coding RNAs, and largely uncharacterized proteins. Some scientists believe this dark genomic layer acts as an adaptive reserve, helping genomes respond to stress, disease, and environmental change. In this episode Andreas Horchler and Louise von Stechow have a fascinating discussion with Dr. Sudhakaran Prabakaran, Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University, CEO of biotech NonExomics, and author of the upcoming book Eclipsed Horizons, which explores the dark genome, the proteome, evolution, and speculative futures for both humanity and the planet. Find Dr. Sudhakaran Prabakaran https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudhakaranprabakaran/ Find the Eclipsed Horizons https://sites.google.com/view/sudhakaranprabakaran/book Disclaimer: Louise von Stechow & Andreas Horchler and their guests express their personal opinions, which are founded on research on the respective topics, but do not claim to give medical, investment or even life advice in the podcast. Learn more about the future of biotech in our podcasts and keynotes. Contact us here: scientific communication: https://science-tales.com/ Podcasts: https://www.podcon.de/ Keynotes: https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/louise-von-stechow Image Unsplash via NASA Further Reading on the dark genome, proteome and beyond https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/5065367/ 2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2998295/ 3. https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/educational-resources/fact-sheets/human-genome-project 4. https://www.nature.com/articles/538275a 5. https://www.nature.com/articles/512009e 6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7366731/ 7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15496913/ 8. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982212011542 9. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/genomics/encode-project.html 10. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269899103_Junk_or_functional_DNA_ENCODE_and_the_function_controversy 11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19213877/ 12. https://www.nature.com/articles/520615a 13. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11311765/ 14. https://analyticalsciencejournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pmic.202100211 15. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12701996/ 16. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9757701/ 17. https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6429 18. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32139545/ 19. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38176414/ 20. https://panspermia.org/mcclintocknrg2023.pdf 21. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1912725116