Human genetic code 'essentially complete'

[master_q 0]

Human genetic code 'essentially complete'

 

 

The group announced in 2000 that it had completed a rough draft of the code, and the new report said the sequence is now "essentially complete" and freely available on computer databases to scientists all over the world.

 

Already, the group said, the computer databases carrying the sequences are getting more than 120,000 visits a day.

 

"After three billion years of evolution, we have before us the instruction set that carries each of us from one cell egg to adulthood to the grave," said Dr. Robert Waterston, of the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, an organization of 18 institutions that participated in the project.

 

Dr. Francis Collins, head of the National Human Genome Research Institute, the lead National Institutes of Health agency in the project, said the American share of the effort was completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The project started in 1990 and was expected to last 15 years at a cost of $3 billion. It was completed at a cost of $2.7 billion in less than 13 years.

 

He said the project is delivering, into public databases, "a remarkable gift to all of humankind -- all of the letters to our human construction book."

 

Collins said the next step is to apply this new fundamental knowledge and he forecast revolutions in biology, medicine and in society.

 

Just when the predicted medical benefits will be harvested is still uncertain, Collins said, but he forecast that it will touch every phase of medicine and disease treatment in coming centuries.

 

The leaders of the six countries whose scientists participated in the effort issued a joint statement -- released by the White House -- welcoming the work as providing a "fundamental platform for understanding ourselves."

 

In addition to President Bush, the statement was signed by Jacques Chirac, president of France; British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Wen Jiabao, premier of China.

 

The genome is the collection of genes that form the DNA that contains the instructions for life. In humans, it's about 3.12 billion pairs of chemicals that form between 35,000 and 40,000 genes.

 

A gene is a group of those pairs, and each gene is a single instruction for the makeup of a being. Faulty genes can lead to various diseases; researchers hope that once they can read the entire code they can figure out where problems exist and, one day, correct them.

 

In the 2000 announcement, Collins said about 97 percent of the chemical pairs had been identified. He said researchers eventually hoped to sequence the genome to an accuracy of 99.9 percent. Because every human being has a unique genetic pattern, researchers are not expected to ever reach 100 percent.

 

It was just 50 years ago that Watson and collaborator Francis Crick, working at Cambridge University in England, were able to figure out the structure of DNA.

 

The DNA molecule resembles a twisted ladder. It is made up of just four chemicals, called bases, with each "rung" made from a pair of these bases. The bases provide the genetic code. Just as a four-letter alphabet could spell out words, the sequence of the four kinds of bases along the length of the DNA molecule spells out the information stored in genes

--CNN

 

 

As you probably know I’m more of a physics / astrophysics / . . . person, but one thing that does appeal to me in biology is genetics.

 

One day I think I’m going to make a chart and put in on this board showing the chance or probability that a baby produced by Ricker and Troi would look like ‘such in such’ (with dark/light skin, eyes, . . . )

 

 

But anyways . . . what do you think about this article?

 

 

Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com

[dsbs 0]

Biology is by far my favourite science, but I love chemistry and physics, too. I'm actually very upset about this article! Ever since I heard about the project, I wanted to help, lol. And now I can't....*sigh*

 

Just kidding. Well, mostly kidding. I think it's facinating, and I can't wait till it's finished. Thanks for bringing it up!

[prometheus 0]

Cool. :)

[Yillara Skye 1]

I was really excited to hear that they had essentially completed the code! That is so neat, that they were able to come so far in unraveling the mystery of the building blocks of life! I mean not long ago, scientists figured they would finally finish the code, but I am sure they never dreamed that it would be finished in this century!

 

I love physics and chemistry more than biology, but what I love so much about biology is genetics. And if you think about it, chemistry and genetics DO go hand in hand!

[~Crims~ 0]

I couldn't stand in science in high school... they way they teach it completely ruined it for me. I'm a business/computer type person, however, this does intrigue me.

[deagletime 1]

the thing one must remeber is that laboratories around the world have sequenced a genome of ONE person that died quite a few years back... i cant recall her name, but i do remember that she had some unique cancerous cells that duplicated at a extrodinary rate... regardless, while it is very useful to have this map of the genome, it is essentially a map, as specific genes have not been isolated as of yet... further, once cannot completely predict the effect of the one isolated gene as most traits are a combination of traits on separate chromosomes and the fact that these genes may not be present or have the same effect in cells in other people...