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Human Chromosome 22 Mapped

Posted by jamie on from the frame-thy-fearful-symmetry dept.

tuck was the first of many to submit this important milestone in arguably the world's most important scientific endeavor. The Human Genome Project has completed mapping its first entire chromosome, number 22. Second-smallest of our 23 chromosomes, some of 22's genes can cause "heart defects, immune system disorders, cancers, schizophrenia and mental retardation." Portion of its DNA which is "junk" (encodes no protein): 42%. Read it at your favorite source: CNN, MSNBC, the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, the AP, or Reuters.

1 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. What does that mean? by jw3 · · Score: 5
    In a recent /. discussion we argued about the Human Genome Project v. TIGR. As you see, the HUGEP is doing quite well. The raw data from the sequencing project should be available next year.

    Will this finish a task? No, it is just a beginning - having the sequence, the real work starts: searching ORFs (Open Reading Frames - sequences which could possibly be genes), running database searches, and slowly passing to the most exciting fields of modern molecular biology - from genomics to transcriptomics and proteomics. Transcriptomics is looking for genes, which actually got expressed, and proteomics - similarly, looking for expressed proteins. Making transcription / translation (translation is the process in which proteins get synthetized) profiles can lead us to 1) function of proteins (e.g. protein X. is expressed under this and this conditions, so it must take part in this and this metabolic response) 2) regulation - DNA is a single strand, but various enzymes are present in various copy numbers under various conditions.

    Those are enormous projects. A lot of work has to be done before the raw sequence will actually be of any use; nethertheless, it is a milestone of molecular biology and will be a fine achievement for the end of our century.

    Another project will be to determine the variability of human genome: screening for different gene allels, mutations etc. This will be one of the most important goals in human genomics in the next few years.

    Whats on the catch... erm, chromosome 22? 22 is 33,400,000 bases long (Mycoplasma pneumoniae, one of the smallest bacteriums, has about 816,394 bases). It contains several already known genes responsible for various genetic disorders, and possibly a gene responsible for certain types of schizophrenia.

    By the way, a much better source of information is the Nature science update page - the original scientific publication has been published today in Nature.

    Regards,

    January