Huge step forward
for some, it was the logical outcome of more than a decade of intensive research. For others, it was the culmination of a mind-boggling journey through uncharted territory. Either way, the recent completion of the human genome project is seen as a landmark development. And the breakthrough couldn't have been better timed: it coincided with the 50th anniversary of the discovery of dna 's helical structure.
On April 14, 2003, the International Human Genome Consortium announced that it had completely decoded the set of instructions that govern how humans develop and function.
Hundreds of scientists in the consortium, representing 18 organisations in six countries, started the sequencing work in 1990. Less than three years after finishing the working draft of the human dna , and two years earlier than expected, the scientists announced that now, there were no substantial holes left in their knowledge of the string of units that determine our biology. Only about 1.5 per cent of the genome has not been decoded. These gaps are too costly to fill.
The genome is composed of about three billion pairs of dna chemicals within 24 chromosomes. The genes that control the body's functions are made of specific sequences of these chemical pairs. Scientists are still uncertain about how many genes there are in the genome. Many believe the number to be around 30,000. A surer estimate of this figure is expected to be arrived at with more research.
New treatments and earlier diagnosis of diseases are expected to be among the initial benefits of the sequencing. Allan Bradley, director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Related Content
- Staying on track from Paris: advancing the key elements of the Paris agreement
- India reports first case of rare genetic disease
- Budget 2013-2014: speech of P. Chidambaram, Minister of Finance
- Coal mining is destroying our forests: Greenpeace
- Punjab dairy farm model for other states
- The Earth Wins One