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Genome Surprise

Posted by timothy on from the paring-down-estimates dept.

Catskul writes "Along with the news that the polished and (more nearly) complete human genome being published Monday, comes a surprising observation about the genome: We have substantially fewer genes than expected; between 27,000 and 40,000 as compared to an original estimate of 140,000." Update: 04/14 01:22 GMT by T : For everyone who can't look at a Z, headline updated with an S in "surprise."

2 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Gene advances. by cliffy2000 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    It's really not too hard to get a superior human race. Just don't let stupid or fat people procreate. Darwin didn't need any of them gene therapies to figure that one out.
    (Sorry, I must have offended most /. readers with that one. Don't worry... you'll be allowed to procreate!)

  2. Biology, not mathematics. by Hodr · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    So, ahh, why is it they can sequence the thing, they can publish the thing, but they can't figure out how large it is with better than say, %60 margin of error?