Human Genome Project

The Human Genome Project (HGP) endeavored to map the human genome down to the nucleotide (or base pair) level and to identify all the genes present in it.

Benefits

Clear practical results of the project emerged even before the work was finished. For example, a number of

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companies, such as Myriad Genetics started offering inexpensive and easy to administer genetic tests that can show predisposition to a variety of illnesses, including breast cancer, blood clotting, cystic fibrosis, liver diseases and many others.

Related Topics:
Myriad Genetics - Breast cancer - Blood clotting - Cystic fibrosis - Liver

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There are also many tangible benefits for biological scientists. For example, a researcher investigating a certain form of cancer may have narrowed down his search to a particular gene. By visiting the human genome database on the world-wide web, this researcher can examine what other scientists have written about this gene, including (potentially) its three-dimensional structure, its function(s), its evolutionary relationships to other human genes, or to genes in mice or yeast or fruitflies, possible detrimental mutations, interactions with other genes, body tissues in which this gene is activated, diseases associated with this gene... the list of datatypes is long, one reason why bioinformatics is so challenging.

Related Topics:
Cancer - Bioinformatics

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The work on interpretation of genome data is still in its initial stages. In the future the knowledge gained by the understanding of the genome will boost the fields of medicine and biotechnology, eventually leading to cures for cancer, Alzheimer's disease and other diseases.

Related Topics:
Medicine - Biotechnology - Cancer - Alzheimer's disease

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On a more philosophical level, the analysis of similarities between DNA sequences from different organisms is 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.

Related Topics:
Evolution - Molecular biology - Ribosome - Organelle - Vertebrate - Immune system - Primate - Mammal

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See also: genetics, bioinformatics

Related Topics:
Genetics - Bioinformatics

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