2021-06-02 20:15:27
We have finally sequenced the complete human genome. No, for real this time.
When scientists first announced that they had read all of a person’s DNA 20 years ago, they were still missing some bits. Now, with the benefit of far better methods for reading DNA, it has finally been possible to read the whole thing from end to end.
“Having been part of the original Human Genome Project in 2001, and especially focused on the difficult regions, it’s really satisfying for me to see this done even though it took 20 years,” says Evan Eichler at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The new genome includes an additional 200 million base pairs or “letters” of DNA, and adds more than 2000 extra genes.
Our genes help make us who we are. Humans have thousands of them, although the exact number is uncertain and partly depends on how you count them. They are stored on long molecules of DNA in the centres of cells. The genetic information exists as four molecules called bases (C, G, T and A) that are strung along the DNA molecule.
The human genome contains just over 3 billion letters. The first complete sequences were published to huge fanfare in 2001: one by the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium (HGSC) and the other by US company Celera Genomics. The project had begun a decade before in 1990.
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