Human Genome Project

Genome

A genome is all the DNA in an organism, including its genes. Genes carry information for making all the proteins required by all organisms. These proteins determine, among other things, how the organism looks, how well its body metabolizes food or fights infection, and sometimes even how it behaves.

DNA is made up of four similar chemicals (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that are repeated millions or billions of times throughout a genome. The human genome, for example, has 3 billion pairs of bases.

The particular order of As, Ts, Cs, and Gs is extremely important. The order underlies all of life's diversity, even dictating whether an organism is human or another species such as yeast, rice, or fruit fly, all of which have their own genomes and are themselves the focus of genome projects. Because all organisms are related through similarities in DNA sequences, insights gained from nonhuman genomes often lead to new knowledge about human biology.

The human genome is made up of DNA, which has four different chemical building blocks. These are called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G. In the human genome, about 3 billion bases are arranged along the chromosomes in a particular order for each unique individual

Human Genome

The Human Genome Project (HGP)

The Human Genome Project (HGP) is a project to map and sequence the 3 billion nucleotides contained in the human genome and to identify all the genes present in it. There are currently two human genome projects: the first is the international HGP which is being produced by a group of international government bodies and organisations, and the second by a private company Celera Genomics.

Goals

The goals of the original HGP were not only to determine all 3 billion base pairs in the human genome with a minimal error rate, but also to identify all the genes in this vast amount of data. This part of the project is still ongoing although a preliminary count indicates about 30,000 genes in the human genome, which is far fewer than predicted by most scientists.

Identify all the approximate 30,000 genes in human DNA,

Determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA

Store this information in databases,

Improve tools for data analysis

Transfer related technologies to the private sector, and address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

DNA sequencing

DNA sequencing, the process of determining the exact order of the 3 billion chemical building blocks (called bases and abbreviated A, T, C, and G) that make up the DNA of the 24 different human chromosomes, was the greatest technical challenge in the Human Genome Project. Achieving this goal has helped reveal the estimated 20,000-25,000 human genes within our DNA as well as the regions controlling them. The resulting DNA sequence maps are being used by 21st Century scientists to explore human biology and other complex phenomena.

National genome Human Research Institute

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was one of the great feats of exploration in history - an inward voyage of discovery rather than an outward exploration of the planet or the cosmos; an international research effort to sequence and map all of the genes - together known as the genome - of members of our species, Homo sapiens. Completed in April 2003, the HGP gave us the ability to, for the first time, to read nature's complete genetic blueprint for building a human being. www.genome.gov

Human Genome Project Information

Completed in 2003, the Human Genome Project (HGP) was a 13-year project coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. During the early years of the HGP, the Wellcome Trust (U.K.) became a major partner; additional contributions came from Japan, France, Germany, China, and others.

http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/home.shtml