Venter's DNA Major Source of Celera's Database

dh003i writes "According to this article, Dr. Craig Venter's DNA is the major source of Celera's database of the human genome. Interesting stuff." Includes interviews with lots of aggravated geneticists.

Comments

Re:very disappointing

[DNAGuy]

I can sort of see where you're coming from. From a scientific point of view, it probably makes very little difference. In fact, as mentioned in the article, being able to map the genotype to the phenotype of a known, living specimen may be mildly helpful.

Nonetheless, I can understand the loss of trust some shareholders and collaborators might be feeling. Dr. Venter acted dishonestly and in direct violation of the instructions given him. This does not speak well of his character.

On the other hand, it seems he spearheaded one of the most significant scientific expeditions of our time, and on a very impressive schedule. Maybe a little eccentricity is manageable given the results. Each shareholder and colleague will have to determine for themselves their tolerance for this sort of thing.

As an aside, a few years back I was lucky enough to work with some excellent geneticists, neuroscientists, and neurologists in the field of Parkinson's disease. In order to reach the highest levels of their profession, these folks have had to jump through many hoops related to funding, collaboration, and peer review. Justly or unjustly, they tend to be very proud of their accomplishments with egos to match. I think it's something you have to learn to deal with if you want to play the game at this level.

Advisory boards

[dachshund]

I really don't care whose DNA Celera uses in their projects. What's a little nervous-making is the fact that this company so easily and blithely ignored the recommendations of their donor advisory board. Sort of makes you think that, just perhaps, private companies "ethics boards" and other mechanisms that are supposed to reassure the public, might not be much good.

If this revelation leads us a step closer to Federal regulation of just about everything to do with Genetic technology, you can thank this guy.

Not the end of days

[dh003i]

As a forenote, I'm the one who submitted this story.

To me, as a undergrad majoring in molecular biology, this is interesting but not a disaster.

All of us are for the most part almost completely identical at the genetic level. More than 99.99% of our DNA is probably the same. Most of the variation in our DNA is likely due to selfish elements and "junk DNA" where variation is irrelevant. When it comes down to what separates you from me from Dr. Venter, you'd be surprised that it might come down to a relatively few locations on the genome, and very subtle changes.

Of course, for those few areas where there is some variation in the human genome, this may be important. But how important? So his genome is *most* of Celera's database, as opposed to the genome of 5 randomly selected people. Having a sample of 5 individual's hardly gives due account to diversity in the genome anyways. Besides, much of our diversity is in things which don't matter from a medical point of view: what makes our eyes and hair different colors, our faces different shapes, and other superficial largely irrelevant differences.

An interesting benefit to Dr. Venter's bypassing Celera's random selection process may be that we may in some cases see how phenotype relates to genotype. For example, what exactly is it in Dr. Venter's genome which gives him that most hideous smile which makes him look like a poster for the movie, "The Clowns"? Seriously, there may be some interesting studies to be done, provided Venter is willing.

I'm not saying he did this for all the right reasons. It was, of courses, a selfish act. I think he did this out of eccentricism and curiousity about himself. Richard Dawkin's book is titled, "The Selfish Gene," not "The Benevolent Gene".

I'm not saying I particularly like Venter, or Celera. Celera indeed leached off of the public project, and could've never accomplished what they did without doing so. Also, the public project was headed by Crick. When Waston and Crick discovered the structure of DNA, they didn't hide it and make the world pay for it; they showed it to the world. That was the attitude of true scientists: Even Rosaline Franklin, who's work was used without her permission to determine the structure of DNA by Watson/Crick, wasn't bitter, and wanted the work to be published. I believe she said something along the lines of, "It doesn't matter. It's beuatiful." The discovery of the structure of DNA was made available to us all -- because that's the attitude of true scientists, and because its something that belongs to us all. Celera and Venter, however, have abandoned that tradition. On the bright side, Celera does offer public access to their database with a free registration. The payed-for access gives you a superior genome browser which allows you to find material much easier.

I believe that the essay in the beginning of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton about the biotechnology revolution captures the essence of what I'm thinking of.