The Human Genome Project (HGP) is a project undertaken by James D. Watson with a goal to understand the genetic make-up of the human species by determining the DNA sequence of the human genome and the genome of a few model organisms. The project began in 1990 and, by some definitions, it was completed in 2003. It was one of the biggest investigational projects in the history of science. The mapping of the human genes was an important step in the development of medicines and other aspects of health care.
Most of the genome DNA sequencing for the Human Genome Project was done by researchers at universities and research centers in the the United States and Great Britain, with other genome DNA sequencing done independently by the private company Celera Genomics. The HGP was originally aimed at the more than three billion nucleotides contained in a haploid reference human genome. Recently several groups have announced efforts to extend this to diploid human genomes including the International HapMap Project, Applied Biosystems, Perlegen, Illumina, JCVI, Personal Genome Project, and Roche-454. The "genome" of any given individual (except for identical twins and cloned animals) is unique; mapping "the human genome" involves sequencing multiple variations of each gene. The project did not study all of the DNA found in human cells; some heterochromatic areas (about 8% of the total) remain un-sequenced.
The Human Genome Project
Celera Genomics HGP
In 1998, a similar, privately funded quest was launched by the American researcher Craig Venter and his firm Celera Genomics. The $300 million Celera effort was intended to proceed at a faster pace and at a fraction of the cost of the roughly $3 billion publicly funded project.
Celera used a riskier technique called whole genome shotgun sequencing, which had been used to sequence bacterial genomes of up to six million base pairs in length, but not for anything nearly as large as the three thousand million base pair human genome.
Celera initially announced that it would seek patent protection on "only 200-300" genes, but later amended this to seeking "intellectual property protection" on "fully-characterized important structures" amounting to 100-300 targets. The firm eventually filed preliminary ("place-holder") patent applications on 6,500 whole or partial genes. Celera also promised to publish their findings in accordance with the terms of the 1996 "Bermuda Statement," by releasing new data quarterly (the HGP released its new data daily), although, unlike the publicly funded project, they would not permit free redistribution or commercial use of the data.
In March 2000, President Clinton announced that the genome sequence could not be patented, and should be made freely available to all researchers. The statement sent Celera's stock plummeting and dragged down the biotechnology-heavy Nasdaq. The biotechnology sector lost about $50 billion in market capitalization in two days.
Although the working draft was announced in June 2000, it was not until February 2001 that Celera and the HGP scientists published details of their drafts. Special issues of Nature (which published the publicly funded project's scientific paper)[7] and Science (which published Celera's paper[8]) described the methods used to produce the draft sequence and offered analysis of the sequence. These drafts covered about 83% of the genome (90% of the euchromatic regions with 150,000 gaps and the order and orientation of many segments not yet established). In February 2001, at the time of the joint publications, press releases announced that the project had been completed by both groups. Improved drafts were announced in 2003 and 2005, filling in to ~92% of the sequence currently.
The competition proved to be very good for the project, spurring the public groups to modify their strategy in order to accelerate progress. The rivals initially agreed to pool their data, but the agreement fell apart when Celera refused to deposit its data in the unrestricted public database GenBank. Celera had incorporated the public data into their genome, but forbade the public effort to use Celera data.
HGP is the most well known of many international genome projects aimed at sequencing the DNA of a specific organism. While the human DNA sequence offers the most tangible benefits, important developments in biology and medicine are predicted as a result of the sequencing of model organisms, including mice, fruit flies, zebrafish, yeast, nematodes, plants, and many microbial organisms and parasites.
In 2004, researchers from the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium (IHGSC) of the HGP announced a new estimate of 20,000 to 25,000 genes in the human genome.[9] Previously 30,000 to 40,000 had been predicted, while estimates at the start of the project reached up to as high as 2,000,000. The number continues to fluctuate and it is now expected that it will take many years to agree on a precise value for the number of genes in the human genome.
Whose genome was sequenced?
In the IHGSC international public-sector Human Genome Project (HGP), researchers collected blood (female) or sperm (male) samples from a large number of donors. Only a few of many collected samples were processed as DNA resources. Thus the donor identities were protected so neither donors nor scientists could know whose DNA was sequenced. DNA clones from many different libraries were used in the overall project, with most of those libraries being created by Dr. Pieter J. de Jong. It has been informally reported, and is well known in the genomics community, that much of the DNA for the public HGP came from a single anonymous male donor from Buffalo, New York (code name RP11).[16]
HGP scientists used white blood cells from the blood of 2 male and 2 female donors (randomly selected from 20 of each) -- each donor yielding a separate DNA library. One of these libraries (RP11) was used considerably more than others, due to quality considerations. One minor technical issue is that male samples contain only half as much DNA from the X and Y chromosomes as from the other 22 chromosomes (the autosomes); this happens because each male cell contains only one X and one Y chromosome, not two like other chromosomes (autosomes). (This is true for nearly all male cells not just sperm cells).
Although the main sequencing phase of the HGP has been completed, studies of DNA variation continue in the International HapMap Project, whose goal is to identify patterns of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) groups (called haplotypes, or “haps”). The DNA samples for the HapMap came from a total of 270 individuals: Yoruba people in Ibadan, Nigeria; Japanese people in Tokyo; Han Chinese in Beijing; and the French Centre d’Etude du Polymorphisms Humain (CEPH) resource, which consisted of residents of the United States having ancestry from Western and Northern Europe.
In the Celera Genomics private-sector project, DNA from five different individuals were used for sequencing. The lead scientist of Celera Genomics at that time, Craig Venter, later acknowledged (in a public letter to the journal Science) that his DNA was one of those in the pool[17].
On September 4th, 2007, a team led by Craig Venter, published his complete DNA sequence[18], unveiling the six-billion-letter genome of a single individual for the first time.
How it was accomplished
The IHGSC used pair-end sequencing plus whole-genome shotgun mapping of large (~100 Kbp) plasmid clones and shotgun sequencing of smaller plasmid sub-clones plus a variety of other mapping data to orient and check the assembly of each human chromosome[7].
The Celera group tried “whole-genome shotgun” sequencing without using the additional mapping scaffolding[8], but by including shredded public data raised questions [15].
History
In 1976, the genome of the virus Bacteriophage MS2 was the first complete genome to be determined, by Walter Fiers and his team at the University of Ghent (Ghent, Belgium).[10] The idea for the shotgun technique came from the use of an algorithm that combined sequence information from many small fragments of DNA to reconstruct a genome. This technique was pioneered by Frederick Sanger to sequence the genome of the Phage Φ-X174, a tiny virus called a bacteriophage that was the first fully sequenced genome (DNA-sequence) in 1977.[11] The technique was called shotgun sequencing because the genome was broken into millions of pieces as if it had been blasted with a shotgun. In order to scale up the method, both the sequencing and genome assembly had to be automated, as they were in the 1980s.
Those techniques were shown applicable to sequencing of the first free-living bacterial genome (1.8 million base pairs) of Haemophilus influenzae in 1995 [12] and the first animal genome (~100 Mbp) [13] It involved the use of automated sequencers, longer individual sequences using approximately 500 base pairs at that time. Paired sequences separated by a fixed distance of around 2000 base pairs which were critical elements enabling the development of the first genome assembly programs for reconstruction of large regions of genomes (aka 'contigs').
Three years later, in 1998, the announcement by the newly-formed Celera Genomics that it would scale up the shotgun sequencing method to the human genome was greeted with skepticism in some circles. The shotgun technique breaks the DNA into fragments of various sizes, ranging from 2,000 to 300,000 base pairs in length, forming what is called a DNA "library". Using an automated DNA sequencer the DNA is read in 800bp lengths from both ends of each fragment. Using a complex genome assembly algorithm and a supercomputer, the pieces are combined and the genome can be reconstructed from the millions of short, 800 base pair fragments. The success of both the public and privately funded effort hinged upon a new, more highly automated capillary DNA sequencing machine, called the Applied Biosystems 3700, that ran the DNA sequences through an extremely fine capillary tube rather than a flat gel. Even more critical was the development of a new, larger-scale genome assembly program, which could handle the 30-50 million sequences that would be required to sequence the entire human genome with this method. At the time, such a program did not exist. One of the first major projects at Celera Genomics was the development of this assembler, which was written in parallel with the construction of a large, highly automated genome sequencing factory. The first version of this assembler was demonstrated in 2000, when the Celera team joined forces with Professor Gerald Rubin to sequence the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster using the whole-genome shotgun method[14]. At 130 million base pairs, it was at least 10 times larger than any genome previously shotgun assembled. One year later, the Celera team published their assembly of the three billion base pair human genome.
Benefits
The work on interpretation of genome data is still in its initial stages. It is anticipated that detailed knowledge of the human genome will provide new avenues for advances in medicine and biotechnology. Clear practical results of the project emerged even before the work was finished. For example, a number of companies, such as Myriad Genetics started offering easy ways to administer genetic tests that can show predisposition to a variety of illnesses, including breast cancer, disorders of hemostasis, cystic fibrosis, liver diseases and many others. Also, the etiologies for cancers, Alzheimer's disease and other areas of clinical interest are considered likely to benefit from genome information and possibly may lead in the long term to significant advances in their management.
There are also many tangible benefits for biological scientists. For example, a researcher investigating a certain form of cancer may have narrowed down his/her search to a particular gene. By visiting the human genome database on the worldwide web, this researcher can examine what other scientists have written about this gene, including (potentially) the three-dimensional structure of its product, its function(s), its evolutionary relationships to other human genes, or to genes in mice or yeast or fruit flies, possible detrimental mutations, interactions with other genes, body tissues in which this gene is activated, diseases associated with this gene or other datatypes.
Further, deeper understanding of the disease processes at the level of molecular biology may determine new therapeutic procedures. Given the established importance of DNA in molecular biology and its central role in determining the fundamental operation of cellular processes, it is likely that expanded knowledge in this area will facilitate medical advances in numerous areas of clinical interest that may not have been possible without them.
The analysis of similarities between DNA sequences from different organisms is also opening new avenues in the study of the theory of evolution. In many cases, evolutionary questions can now be framed in terms of molecular biology; indeed, many major evolutionary milestones (the emergence of the ribosome and organelles, the development of embryos with body plans, the vertebrate immune system) can be related to the molecular level. Many questions about the similarities and differences between humans and our closest relatives (the primates, and indeed the other mammals) are expected to be illuminated by the data from this project.
The Human Genome Diversity Project, spinoff research aimed at mapping the DNA that varies between human ethnic groups, which was rumored to have been halted, actually did continue and to date has yielded new conclusions. In the future, HGDP could possibly expose new data in disease surveillance, human development and anthropology. HGDP could unlock secrets behind and create new strategies for managing the vulnerability of ethnic groups to certain diseases (see race in biomedicine). It could also show how human populations have adapted to these vulnerabilities.
Human Genome Project - The DNA Sequence Has Been Revealed
After years of multi-billion-dollar research, the Human Genome Project and Celera Genomics (a non-government biotechnology company) jointly announced drafts of the human genome sequence in 2000. By mid-2001, scientists associated with these ventures had presented the true nature and complexity of the digital code inherent in DNA. We now understand that there are approximately 35,000 genes in each human DNA molecule, comprised of approximately 3 billion chemical bases arranged in precise sequence. Even the DNA molecule for the single-celled bacterium, E. coli, contains enough information to fill all the books in any of the world's largest libraries. We now appreciate that the DNA structure is one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time, only first discovered at its base level in 1953 by James Watson and Francis Crick.
Human Genome Project - A Monstrous Final Thought
The Human Genome Project is a phenomenal undertaking. Unfortunately, it reminds us that some of the worst events in human history have occurred when technological expertise was united with spiritual emptiness. Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, explains it perfectly in the introduction to her famous book, "Frightful must it be; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavor to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the World."
Human Genome Project - What it Means for the 21st Century
As a result of the work of the Human Genome Project and other genetic scientists, including the recent media-hyped cloning of Dolly the sheep, we now realize that the possibilities of genetic manipulation are profound. With this awesome technological discovery comes dramatic potential for significant abuse. As such, we need to keep a careful eye on "science" and continually remind the popular culture that technology is not the supreme authority. Regardless of a person's DNA, every human being is a unique and special individual created by God. Genetic engineering seems to accept that our DNA is the entirety of who we are. In contrast, the Bible teaches that every person has a soul, separate and distinct from our genetic material. When a person dies, the soul continues to exist. Therefore, contrary to general scientific principles, we are more than a combination of genetic code and 17 naturally occurring organic elements. The Director of the Human Genome Project, Francis Collins, is a Christian who highlights the positive aspects of genetic research, "We have caught the first glimpse of our instruction book, previously known only to God." While this is an exciting statement, we must never lose sight of the fact that no matter how "smart" we get as a society, we are not God and should not put ourselves in a position to play God. Since we live in a post-modern society influenced more by humanism, materialism and moral relativism than by Judeo-christian values, we must keep careful tabs on the potential uses and abuses of human genetic engineering
The Human Genome Project - What is its Purpose?
The Human Genome Project was a 13-year project coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health. It completed its initial mission in 2003. The initial purpose or goals were to:
• identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000 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.
Identifying the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA was an enormous achievement of the Human Genome Project which some say is akin to developing the periodic table of elements. However, deriving meaningful knowledge from DNA sequence will define biological research through the coming decades and require the expertise and creativity of teams of biologists, chemists, engineers, and computational scientists, among others. Many research challenges remain in genetics even with the full human sequence in hand. Some of the application areas where specific goals (additional purposes) have been defined are as follows:
• Molecular Medicine
• Energy and Environmental Applications
• Risk Assessment
• Bioarchaeology, Anthropology, Evolution, and Human Migration
• DNA Forensics (Identification)
• Agriculture, Livestock, Breeding, and Bioprocessing
A short list of the many challenges (the purpose is to overcome these challenges) include the following:
• Gene number, exact locations, and functions
• Gene Regulation
• DNA sequence organization
• Chromosomal structure and organization
• Noncoding DNA types, amount, distribution, information content, and functions
The purposes of the Human Genome Project and the ongoing effort to understand the relationship between the code and life is more than just a set of objectives, goals and challenges to overcome. The purpose also includes the significance and appropriateness of what is being done to our world and how it relates to our worldview and its values. The project team realized this and included an ethical, legal and social issues topic as part of their objectives and they spent about 3%-5% of their budget in this area. However, that doesn't mean they considered limiting the work to accommodate a Christian Theistic worldview that is opposite to the dominant naturalistic, humanistic worldview in the scientific community. In fact, they assumed that the theory of evolution is true and that God doesn't exist by including the study of evolution into their objectives.
It would seem that the most appropriate, significant and profound purpose of the Human Genome Project would be to identify if the evidence points to special creation or (macro) evolution. Zero percent of their budget went toward inferring or concluding what the data implied regarding the biggest question in the universe! Their naturalism presupposition compels them to conclude that macro evolution is true and that God does not exist. This, in part, has happened because of a redefinition of science.
The 1934 edition of Webster's New School dictionary in defining the word "science," "acknowledged truths and laws, especially as demonstrated by induction, experiment or observation." However, by 1983 the basic definition was changed as follows in the Webster's Collegiate dictionary; "knowledge concerning the physical world and its phenomena." Scientists have lost this fundamental understanding of the original purpose of science since its definition has now been altered. This (new) definition removes the idea that science is the search for truth, but only exists to identify and emphasize natural phenomena.
How can scientists ignore such overwhelming evidence that the voluminous digital code in the DNA molecule could come about via evolution without a designer?
What is the significance of the Human Genome Project information?
One point of agreement on the significance of the human genome project information is that it is profound. Also, all agree that the identifying three billion letters that spell out the DNA in the human genome blueprint that makes us human is an awesome accomplishment. Some have compared it to the development of the periodic table. Others have compared it with the invention of the wheel.
In June of 2000 in a joint video address with Tony Blair at a press conference that marked the official completion of the project, Bill Clinton told an astonished world: "It is now conceivable that our children's children will know the term cancer only as a constellation of stars." Such an accomplishment would certainly be very significant. Anything that could be done with the human genome project information to cure disease either after it appears, or better yet before it appears, would be phenomenal.
Although progress has been made, experts agreed at a 2004 conference that even if the initial goals are accomplished, they are the very small tip of a very big iceberg. Tony White, who is the founder of a company called Celera, arguably did more than anyone to drive the sequencing effort, admits that progress has been slower than some expected. Speaking of all the hype around the completion of the project, he said, "I think what they failed to do at the time was accurately describe how long it would take. Instead of describing it as a first step in a journey of a million miles it was described as a destination and I think everyone was done a disservice by not clarifying that."
Although the technical use or the human genome project information to cure disease is extremely significant, drawing correct conclusions about our origins is far more profound! Did we evolve or were we created by an intelligent creator? The type of information that is discovered through the human genome project is extremely significant information relative to answering that question. However, most of the discussion and articles either ignore this question or assume that random evolution occurred and try to interpret genetic coding through evolutionary eyes regardless of whether evolution is the best explanation for the evidence or not. Some of these articles have titles or subjects as follows:
• Ancestor's DNA code reconstructed
• Genome of ancient fish could reveal evolutionary mysteries
• Ancient mammal's DNA code rebuilt
• The Y-chromosome is vital in the study of human evolution
The US Department of Energy and the National Institute of Health devoted 3% to 5% of their annual Human Genome Project budget toward studying the ethical, legal and social issues relating to the genetic information. None of the budget was spent on identifying the significance of the information in relationship to an objective conclusion of our origin, the age-old profound question. A naturalistic random evolutionary scenario is assumed and the profound evidence to the contrary is ignored and not discussed.
The molecular DNA that represents the human genome totals two meters long and has a width of two billionths of a meter. It has over three billion code letters. If DNA were as wide as railroad tracks, the human genome would be a million miles long. To store the data of the human genome on a computer would require 10,000 floppy disks.
German scientist, Werner Gitt, had the correct conclusion summarized in the title of his book, "In the Beginning was Information." Although DNA is a chemical, information is completely separate from the media upon which it is written. The Human Genome Project stored the same information in a computer format that is on the human genome DNA molecules. The same message can be written in print, writing, Morse Code, or with smoke signals, etc. The information is independent from the media upon which it is written. Although chemicals can form naturally, information can only come from intelligence. Intelligence is not a natural phenomenon.
Not only the incredible amount of information in the human genome points to an intelligent creator, but also the entire life system that can read the code, make all necessary chemicals, perform all the life functions, and give us consciousness. We are just beginning to understand how we are incredibly designed. We need to give God the glory and thank Him that He created us in His image.
How is genome sequencing technology helping aid research today?
An example of how genome sequence technology can make a difference in today’s society is illustrated by the recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) worldwide. Several hundred cases of severe atypical pneumonia were reported in Guangdong Province, China in late 2002. In March 2003, SARS had spread to healthcare workers in Hong Kong and a worldwide epidemic was in the works. By late June, 250 Canadian cases of SARS had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) and 38 patients had died as of July 10th, 2003 [5]. New clusters of patients, including healthcare workers, in Toronto drew a lot of attention from the media worldwide. An isolate of a coronavirus obtained from the second patient in Toronto, called Tor2, was identified as the SARS virus. The virus was then sent to the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver for genome sequencing by the Genome Sciences Centre at the BC Cancer Agency [6]. The virus sample arrived on April 2nd and by April 11th the genome of this virus had been sequenced. The first complete assembly of the SARS viral genome was deposited into public sequence databanks the next day on April 12th. The information derived from the genome sequence of SARS gave insights into the origin of the disease as well as aided with patient diagnosis. The speed at which this 29,751 base genome was successfully sequenced is an exciting accomplishment for the field of bioinformatics. Fortunately, the SARS epidemic worldwide is now under control and scientists now have a better understanding of the disease, due in part to the knowledge derived from genome sequencing. It was less than one month, from the isolation of the virus to the publication of the sequence of the SARS genome [7]. This amazing pace of current research can be attributed directly to the development of the technology and expertise emerging out of the HGP and serves to illustrate how genome sequencing technology and bioinformatics will benefit our basic understanding of life and disease processes
What have we learned from the Human Genome Project?
What have we learned from the Human Genome Project?
These major accomplishments in genome sequencing provide a wealth of information that aid in the understanding of basic biological processes. With genome sequence in-hand scientists are now more effectively able to study gene function and explore new areas of research such as how human variation contributes to different diseases worldwide. Scientists today are discovering that the more we learn about the human genome, the more that there is to explore. For instance, as a first step in understanding the genomic code we have learnt that the human genome is made of 3.2 billion nucleotide bases (of which there are four types: A, C, T, G). It is thought that over 30,000 genes are encoded by this sequence. Yet we have also discovered that over 50% of the human genome is repetitive sequence that does not code for any proteins and the function of this large portion of “junk” DNA is still puzzling scientists. Along similar lines, the HGP has shown us that the average length of an expressed gene is 3000 bases long. Genome sequence information has helped scientists more easily identify candidate disease genes, however, we also realize that over 50% of the genes discovered in the human genome are still classified as having unknown function. Human genome sequence information reveals that genome sequences from person to person are almost (99.9%) identical. Interestingly, comparative genomics shows 95% sequence similarity between the human and chimpanzee genomes. Scientists are just beginning to understand how this small amount of variation contributes to differences in disease incidences in different populations. The discovery of about 3 million locations that have single base differences in the human genome (called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs) offers insights into how genomic information could be used to discover information related to the incidence of common human traits, including susceptibility to certain diseases and illnesses.
The HGP has also shown us that the powerful methods of genome sequencing technology raise important ethical and policy issues for individuals and society. Access to genome sequence information, privacy related issues and the appropriate use of this sort of information are all important issues for researchers, governments, and policy makers worldwide. The HGP has great potential to benefit society. An understanding of human variation could be directly translated to human health with the creation of better treatments and personalized medicine. In our complex world, it is also important that human genome information be protected. Scientists, policy makers, educators and ethicists have recognized the need to encourage dialogue with the public about human genome sequence information and potential implications. A number of excellent resources are available online which celebrate human genome based discoveries and provide information about the implications of genomics in today’s society [4].
Figure 2. The Diversity of Genomic Applications to Society. Genomics hold promise for advances in fields ranging from medicine and agriculture, all the way to energy production. This global impact is just beginning to be felt.
What is a genome?
What is a genome?
The word "genome" has gone from obscurity to a very common word over the last several years. However, the answer to the question, "what is a genome?" is still somewhat obscure in many of our minds. Except for those very familiar with biological genetics, how a genome relates to DNA, chromosomes, genes, proteins, and amino acids, is still not clear.
The origin of the word "genome," is a combination of two words. Gen is taken from the German word "genom" meaning gene and ome is taken from the word "chromosome." To understand what genome means and how it relates to the body and other genetic entities, let's start with the body and work toward smaller genetic entities.
A human body is made up of about 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 cells. Each cell contains, in its nucleus, all the coding instructions necessary to direct the cell's activities and manufacture the required proteins. A complete set of those raw coding instructions is referred to as a genome. In humans, the genome is made up of 24 distinct DNA molecules called chromosomes. In bacteria and other more simple forms of life, the genome only contains one chromosome.
Human chromosomes vary widely in size and how much genetic information they contain. Human chromosome #1 has the most genes with 2968. Human Y chromosome has the fewest with 231 genes. Genes are isolated information segments along the DNA molecule between what appears to be informationless coding. Scientists have been able to able to identify the information containing gene sections from the informationless coding sections along the DNA molecule through information theory techniques. This is similar to what the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) program does to identify potential radio information from outer space as opposed to informationless noise.
A good analogy of a chromosome would be a huge encyclopedia with many books written in English using our 26-letter alphabet. The books that would be understandable to someone that knows English are the genes. Other books would be nothing but gibberish. These books are like the sections between the genes. This seems easy to someone that knows English, but it wouldn't be as obvious to someone that doesn't know English. However, although scientists know the DNA alphabet, they don't know the words in the DNA coded language. Currently only God, the designer, knows the language and what the words mean. However, this is what scientists are trying to learn.
DNA is the acronym for deoxyribonucleic acid. Geometrically it is a long double helix molecule. A good analogy would be a very long spiral staircase with a pair of amino acid nucleotide coding letters as each step. These nucleotides include only four chemical building blocks. They include adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). If these nucleotides could bond across the double helix in any combination, the coding alphabet would be more than four letters. However, because of the chemical geometry and affinity, bonding pairs only include A bonding with T and G bonding with C. This makes the opposite side of the double helix a negative of the other side. Consequently, all the information comes from one side of the helix with the other side being redundant.
A human genome contains about 3,000,000,000 nucleotide pairs and a bacterium contains about 600,000 pairs. Although we do not know the meaning of the words, sentences, etc., each cell knows how to read the code and only reads the part that is relevant to their type and function. This selective reading process creates many different kinds of cells, such as skin, muscle, neural, and bone cells, all of which develop from many cells of the embryo produced by the growth and division of one cell: the fertilized egg.
What we have learned about this whole process reveals the incredible design that has resulted in human life and other life forms. Although scientists have made great progress, we are just getting a glimpse of this incredible design. We should be in awe of the design and have a respectful fear of the powerful designer. Let's not be fooled by evolutionary thinking that claims random chance creates incredible design. Imagine you were the designer and the people you designed with great intellect and free will, came up with a theory that discredited your design and claimed that your incredible design was due to random natural forces. Think about it!
What is the Human Genome Project?
Genome sequencing technology has led to many recent scientific breakthroughs. These breakthroughs have captured the interest of the public and are being reported with excitement by both the media and scientific journals. The completion of the human genome project (HGP) is an example of newsworthy science that has the potential to have major effects on our society today. The HGP was an initiative started in the early 1990’s that has involved the efforts of hundreds of scientists to generate high-quality reference sequence for the 3 billion base pairs of nucleotide sequence that make up the human genome. The complete string of nucleotide letters that make up the DNA sequence in our cells is often referred to as our genome. This DNA sequence contained in a genome contains the complete code that determines which genes and proteins will be present in human cells. By reading the sequence of the human genome, scientists hope to gain an understanding of the underlying code that determines how a complex biological system, such as a human cell, acts and reacts. Insights from deciphering the human genome have potential to be applied to a better understanding of human health and could help to develop better treatments for disease.
What's a genome? And why is it important?
What's a genome? And why is it important? •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 word "genome" has gone from obscurity to a very common word over the last several years. However, the answer to the question, "what is a genome?" is still somewhat obscure in many of our minds. Except for those very familiar with biological genetics, how a genome relates to DNA, chromosomes, genes, proteins, and amino acids, is still not clear.
The origin of the word "genome," is a combination of two words. Gen is taken from the German word "genom" meaning gene and ome is taken from the word "chromosome." To understand what genome means and how it relates to the body and other genetic entities, let's start with the body and work toward smaller genetic entities.
A human body is made up of about 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 cells. Each cell contains, in its nucleus, all the coding instructions necessary to direct the cell's activities and manufacture the required proteins. A complete set of those raw coding instructions is referred to as a genome. In humans, the genome is made up of 24 distinct DNA molecules called chromosomes. In bacteria and other more simple forms of life, the genome only contains one chromosome.
Human chromosomes vary widely in size and how much genetic information they contain. Human chromosome #1 has the most genes with 2968. Human Y chromosome has the fewest with 231 genes. Genes are isolated information segments along the DNA molecule between what appears to be informationless coding. Scientists have been able to able to identify the information containing gene sections from the informationless coding sections along the DNA molecule through information theory techniques. This is similar to what the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) program does to identify potential radio information from outer space as opposed to informationless noise.
A good analogy of a chromosome would be a huge encyclopedia with many books written in English using our 26-letter alphabet. The books that would be understandable to someone that knows English are the genes. Other books would be nothing but gibberish. These books are like the sections between the genes. This seems easy to someone that knows English, but it wouldn't be as obvious to someone that doesn't know English. However, although scientists know the DNA alphabet, they don't know the words in the DNA coded language. Currently only God, the designer, knows the language and what the words mean. However, this is what scientists are trying to learn.
DNA is the acronym for deoxyribonucleic acid. Geometrically it is a long double helix molecule. A good analogy would be a very long spiral staircase with a pair of amino acid nucleotide coding letters as each step. These nucleotides include only four chemical building blocks. They include adenine (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C), and thymine (T). If these nucleotides could bond across the double helix in any combination, the coding alphabet would be more than four letters. However, because of the chemical geometry and affinity, bonding pairs only include A bonding with T and G bonding with C. This makes the opposite side of the double helix a negative of the other side. Consequently, all the information comes from one side of the helix with the other side being redundant.
A human genome contains about 3,000,000,000 nucleotide pairs and a bacterium contains about 600,000 pairs. Although we do not know the meaning of the words, sentences, etc., each cell knows how to read the code and only reads the part that is relevant to their type and function. This selective reading process creates many different kinds of cells, such as skin, muscle, neural, and bone cells, all of which develop from many cells of the embryo produced by the growth and division of one cell: the fertilized egg.
What we have learned about this whole process reveals the incredible design that has resulted in human life and other life forms. Although scientists have made great progress, we are just getting a glimpse of this incredible design. We should be in awe of the design and have a respectful fear of the powerful designer. Let's not be fooled by evolutionary thinking that claims random chance creates incredible design. Imagine you were the designer and the people you designed with great intellect and free will, came up with a theory that discredited your design and claimed that your incredible design was due to random natural forces. Think about it!
