From The Inside Looking Into The Human Genome Project

FROM THE LOOKING INTO THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT INSIDE The largest collaborative biological project in history gave us the ability, for the first time, to read nature's complex genetic blueprint building a human being. The Human Genome Project has helped us understand genetic factors in human disease and is paving the way for their diagnosis, treatment and prevention. PROJECT PLAN ESTIMATED COST ESTIMATED COST: THAT'S ENOUGH MONEY TO COVER $2.7 BILLION 122,000 U.S. FAMILIES' YEARLY HEALTH CARE COSTS. 2003 ENTIRE HUMAN GENOME SEQUENCING COMPLETED PROJECT TIMELINE (2 YEARS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE AND UNDER BUDGET!) 1987 1990 1997 BUDGET SUBMITTED GENE IDENTIFIED THAT CAUSES PARKINSON'S DISEASE GENOME PROJECT BEGINS TO CONGRESS (PLANNED FOR 15 YEARS) PROJECT DETAILS IF ALL THE DNA IN YOUR BODY WAS PUT END TO END, IT WOULD REACH TO THE SUN AND BACK OVER 600 TIMES! THE HUMAN GENOME IS MADE UP OF OVER 3 BILLION BASES OF DNA, SPLIT INTO 24 CHROMOSOMES. THIS INFORMATION WOULD TAKE A CENTURY TO RECITE! (IF WE RECITED ONE LETTER PER SECOND, FOR 24 HOURS A DAY.) AN UNDISCLOSED NUMBER OF VOLUNTEERS DONATED BLOOD; AS MUCH AS 5 TO 10 TIMES MORE SAMPLES WERE TAKEN THAN ULTIMATELY USED, TO ENSURE 99.9% OF NUCLEOTIDE BASES ARE IDENTICAL IN ALL PEOPLE, VOLUNTEER SAMPLE ANONYMITY. PROVING THAT WE REALLY ARE ALL THE SAME ON THE INSIDE. HUMAN DNA IS 98% IDENTICAL TO CHIMPANZEE DNA. THE HGP IDENTIFIED THE APPROXIMATELY 25,000 GENES IN HUMAN DNA. THAT IS MORE THAN 120 TIMES THE AMOUNT OF BONES IN THE HUMAN BODY. THE VAST MAJORITY OF DNA IN THE HUMAN GENOME, (97%) CONSISTS OF NON-GENETIC SEQUENCE WITH UNKNOWN FUNCTION, OFTEN CALLED "JUNK DNA." 98% 100% T 90% A HUMAN BEING CAN BE MADE FROM A GENE COUNT 80% ONLY TWICE AS GREAT AS THAT OF A FLY. 80% + 75% THERE ARE 13,000 GENES IN A FRUITFLY! 60% 60% 60% + 40% 20 ORGANIZATIONS COMPRISED THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN GENOME SEQUENCING CONSORTIUM, SPANNING THE UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, FRANCE, GERMANY, JAPAN, AND CHINA. 20% EVERY SECOND, THE HGP COMPUTER DECODES 12,000 LETTERS 12,000 LETTERS PER SECOND WOULD BE ENOUGH TO FILL AN AVERAGE SIZED NOVEL EVERY 30 SECONDS. PROJECT OUTCOME AT LEAST 350 BIOTECHNOLOGY- BASED PRODUCTS THANKS TO THE HGP, MORE THAN 1,800 DISEASE GENES HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED, RESULTING FROM THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT ARE CURRENTLY IN CLINICAL TRIALS. INCLUDING THOSE ASSOCIATED WITH BREAST CANCER, MUSCULAR DISEASE, DEAFNESS, AND BLINDNESS. THERE ARE NOW MORE THAN 2,000 GENETIC TESTS FOR HUMAN CONDITIONS. RESEARCHERS CAN NOW FIND GENES SUSPECTED OF CAUSING INHERITED DISEASE IN A MATTER OF DAYS, RATHER THAN YEARS. |JUNE 13, 2013 THE SUPREME COURT ISSUED A RULING THAT BANS THE PATENTING OF NATURALLY OCCURRING GENES, BUT ALLOWS EDITED OR ARTIFICIALLY CREATED DNA TO BE PATENTED, OPENING THE DOOR FOR RESEARCHERS AND COMPANIES TO POTENTIALLY DEVELOP LOWER-COST TESTS FOR DISEASES SUCH AS BREAST AND OVARIAN CANCER. ALL GREAT THINGS BEGIN AS PROJECTS DISCOVER MORE GREAT PROJECTS AT AKA.MS/GREATPROJECTS COLUMN P Project FIVE Microsoft Sources: REPORT.NIH.GOV, ORNL.GOV, GENOME.GOV, NEWS.NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM, GENOME.CSHLP.ORG, TOPSECRETWRITERS.COM, PLOSBIOLOGY.ORG, SCIENCEDAILY.COM