Human Genome Sequencing Completed 337
Arthur Dent '99 writes "According to this article at Reuters, the last chromosome in the human genome has finally been sequenced, taking 150 British and American scientists 10 years to complete. The sequenced chromosome, Chromosome 1, is the largest chromosome, with nearly twice as many genes as the average chromosome, making up eight percent of the human genetic code. The Human Genome Project has published the sequence online in the journal Nature, according to the article. It contains 3,141 genes (over 1,000 of them newly discovered), and 4,500 new SNPs -- single nucleotide polymorphisms -- which are the variations in human DNA that make people unique."
It's the website, silly! (Score:1, Insightful)
Naturally, this is quite rare. I mean, I didn't even look at anything but the name of the website you linked to, and I certainly don't have any mod points.
Re:I'd like fries with that (Score:5, Insightful)
So, what if it was a choice between good vision and very high intelligence? How about between good vision or very low risk of cancer/heart disease?
Bad vision is correctable. If there is a trade off to make, good vision would be something that wouldn't be too hard to trade for something better.
Re:A simple question (Score:5, Insightful)
Remember kids... (Score:4, Insightful)
Finally! (Score:2, Insightful)
protein modelling (Score:3, Insightful)
The AGCT's code for proteins and so far we can only model very short combinations. All you coders keen for a life project have a crack at it. Theres 20 amino acids formed from combinations of three base pairs. The amino acids have attraction and repulsion properties with each other and their environment and form to make a unique shape. Its the analysis of that 3D shape that will solve:
- all cancer - modelling protein shapes means instant cancer cures
- bird flu - again modelling proteins means instant antibodies to diseases
- the most toxic substance ever invented - it will also open up designer drugs
A dozen sets would be signifigant (Score:2, Insightful)
You always go with a base line. Then you read other people and compare and contrast them. Then add in other species. And voila, the genetic black box of subroutines that evolution found most useful that are 99.99999% of the answer. After that your left with mutations and figuring out what, and how, the code sequences do what they do and finally programming new sequences to test theory.
In other words 30 years from now it will finally get interesting.
That's not a simple question (Score:3, Insightful)
So, if you really want to know, the answer is...
because.
Re:Genes make proteins. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Have they found the gene (Score:3, Insightful)
You do realize that breeding like to like is genetic manipulation? That what you are essentially doing is reinforcing genes that express the desirous trait and eliminating genes that don't? Physical ability may have been bred in to certain people, as you suggest, and it may recede over time, but it's still a genetic trait.
Re:3,141 genes (Score:3, Insightful)
The genome trading card game (Score:3, Insightful)
Sometimes, I'd give intelligence for booze. Life'd be a lot easier and less painful.
Re:A simple question (Score:3, Insightful)
I also consider that one of the chromosomes could maintain (as a unit) the code for some very complex interaction that can't be further broken down. Maybe something to control the expression of genes, p2p communication (to correlate production of proteins, etc.), or even the definition of types for cell differentiation. Or a kind of file full of unique keys to keep the immune system from attacking the body's own cells (errors in which might result in allergies). Consider the size of concurrency control and locking code in Enterprise software. It's easy to imagine that one chromosome would be the largest by far, especially if it contains an operation that cannot be split into multiple parts, and any subsequent additions to code could appear randomly on any of the 23.
Perhaps I'm dead wrong -- I'm not a genetic researcher -- but whatever corpus of code serves functions like these, assuming they're not all n-th level emergent properties of a massive number of proteins, would intuitively seem to be much less tolerant of fragmentation than others. I'm betting that it contains some kind of code where having it all in one place increases its effectiveness to a point of conferring a survival advantage.
Re:Have they found the gene (Score:1, Insightful)
Really, the issue is a lot more complex than just looking at a sport and taking anything at face value. What sort of cultural barriers are there to a certain sport? What sort of expectations are placed on atheletes of a certain color? These, and many other factors, are frequently left out when the discussion of race and athleticism. Tracing everything back to slavery is the lazy thing to do.
Re:Finished my ass (Score:2, Insightful)
The really bad thing about all these announcements of "finishing the human genome" (apart from making the scientist involved look like idiots) is that it is stopping people from outside the field thinking about new ways of really finishing the genome as they think the problem has already been solved. This is a really hard problem and we need all the help we can get.