Human Genome Project (redirected from Human genome initiative)

Human Genome Project, international scientific effort to map all of the genes on the 23 pairs of human chromosomes and, to sequence the 3.1 billion DNA base pairs that make up the chromosomes (see nucleic acid). Begun in 1990 with the goal of enabling scientists to understand the basis of genetic diseases and to gain insight into human evolution, the project was largely completed in 2000 when 85% of the human genome was decoded, and ended in 2003 with 99% decoded; detailed analyses of all the pairs were published by 2006. In the process, scientists identified genes for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease, and an inherited form of breast cancer. In addition, the project decoded the genome of the bacterium E. coli, a fruit fly, and a nematode worm (see phylum Nematoda), in order to study genetic similarities among species, and a mouse genome was also decoded.

The Human Genome Project involved laboratories in the United States, France, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan. It was financed in the United States by the National Institutes of Health and by the Department of Energy and in Great Britain by the Wellcome Trust of London. A comparable project using new DNA (genetic material) sequencing machines was begun as a private industry venture in the United States in 1998, with a stated goal of completing the mapping of the genome in three years.

Early in 2001 scientists from both teams jointly announced the "completion" of the mapping of the human genome, indicating that they had identified an estimated 30,000 genes (instead of the expected 100,000), constituting just 1% of the total human DNA. Subsequent comparison of the two teams' data has indicated that, because of differences in the genes identified by the teams, there may in fact be as many as 40,000 human genes. A subsequent, more refined estimate (2004) based on additional work on the genome was that there are between 20,000 and 25,000 genes. Work continues on further refining the sequencing of the genes on the chromosomes and eliminating the remaining gaps in the genome map.

Bibliography

See studies by J. Sulston and G. Ferry (2003) and J. Shreeve (2004).

---

Human Genome Project

U.S. research effort initiated in 1990 by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health to analyze the DNA of human beings. The project, intended to be completed in 15 years, proposed to identify the chromosomal location of every human gene, to determine each gene's precise chemical structure in order to show its function in health and disease, and to determine the precise sequence of nucleotides of the entire set of genes (the genome). Another project was to address the ethical, legal, and social implications of the information obtained. The information gathered will be the basic reference for research in human biology and will provide fundamental insights into the genetic basis of human disease. The new technologies developed in the course of the project will be applicable in numerous biomedical fields. In 2000 the government and the private corporation Celera Genomics jointly announced that the project had been virtually completed, five years ahead of schedule.

---

A bioinformatics project that has identified the 30,000 genes in human DNA. Coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Human Genome Project started in 1990 and released its findings in February 2001 along with findings from a separate project by Celera Genomics Group. There are similar projects in other countries as well. The purpose is to store the three billion chemical base pairs (the DNA sequence) derived from these analyses in databases for use in biomedical research. See micro array.

A Human Component Dictionary
This information is not a blueprint of the human being, rather it is a dictionary of components. Once believed that each gene made only one protein, it is now believed that each gene creates numerous proteins, although this information is expected to take years to determine. Part of the U.S. government project is to study the ethical and legal impact that this information will have on society. An abundance of information can be found at www.genome.gov.