Google DeepMind, the subsidiary of Google dedicated to researching artificial intelligence (AI), has recently announced a new tool in the field of genetics. Designated AlphaMissence, this new AI model is capable of cataloging 71 million possible “missense mutations” in humans to help in the identification of certain diseases. Missense mutations are alterations in a person’s DNA that occur randomly and have been implicated in several human diseases.
“Today, we’re releasing a catalog of ‘missense’ mutations where researchers can learn more about what effect they may have.”, said a blog release by Google DeepMind. “The AlphaMissense catalog was developed using AlphaMissense, our new AI model which classifies missense variants.”.
DeepMind claims that the AI program can accurately predict whether a particular mutation will be harmful to a person or not, which will, in turn, “accelerate research across fields from molecular biology to clinical and statistical genetics”.
Experts in the field of genetics have pointed out the potential of such a catalog in combating harmful genetic disorders. Writing for Science.org, Dr Jun Cheng and others have noted that AlphaMissense performs better than current “variant effect predictor” programs.
The AlphaMissense catalog is currently available online for free.