Jack DarcherResearchers at Washington University School of Medicine, in conjunction with the International Human Genome Consortium, announced Monday that they had completed the Human Genome Project to an accuracy of 99.99 percent, more than two years ahead of schedule.
The project, launched in 1988, sought to discover the order of the genetic building blocks adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine. Building upon the 50 year-old work of James Watson and Francis Crick, who discerned the structure of DNA, researchers accomplished the goal of sequencing all of the DNA in human chromosomes.
According to Dr. Richard Wilson, the director of the Genome Sequencing Center at WUSM, WU contributed to about one-forth of the sequencing. The Genome Sequ-encing Center played a key role in the research efforts by also developing a physical map, or clone map. Wilson described the clone map as a “road map” which helped to organize the project as a whole. WU also gave its technological expertise.
Wilson said that the research’s implications to human health will be evident.
“This will revolutionize health in the future,” said Wilson. “Though we may not see cures in the next few years, this research is already being used by cancer drug companies. The project will revolutionize the diagnosing of disease and it will revolutionize treatments and cures.”
Wilson explained that the early completion of the project will allow for data to be utilized sooner.
“We are already starting to understand the causes of genetic diseases,” said Wilson. “Take cystic fibrosis, for instance. With this research we are already learning how to better treat patients. We understand cancer today better than we did 15 years ago.”
According to a statement released by WUSM, the genome sequencing work has already aided in research regarding breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease, among other illnesses.
Dr. Mark Johnston, a WU professor of genetics, participated in several pilot projects for the current efforts. Though he was less involved in the sequencing of the human genome, Johnston said that the results of this project are invaluable.
“The Human Genome Project will provide an information resource that will drive science for the next 20 years,” said Johnston. “Having the complete gene list of humans will greatly accelerate the progress of understanding of human biology and the mechanisms of disease.”
Johnston emphasized the idea that benefits of the sequencing will lead to the detection and eventual prevention of human diseases.
“People looking for human disease genes can now do so much more efficiently and easily,” said Johnston. “While in the short term, current research will be greatly accelerated, in the long term, we will be able to understand, in great detail, how the human organism works, because we have the complete list of genes and what they do. We will be able to predict disease susceptibilities and allow humans to intervene before the diseases takes effect.”
Wilson said that now that the Human Genome Project is complete, the researchers will be able to pursue new endeavors. Having recently finished sequencing the mouse genome, future efforts will include working on sequencing the genomes of chickens and chimpanzees. Comparing the information gathered from the sequenced genomes of other species to the sequenced human genome will allow Wilson and his colleagues to gain further information about human diseases.
“We’re working with clinical investigators to look at the individual differences between the genes of different people and different types of cancer,” said Wilson.
According to an article on CNN.com, the endeavor was projected to last 15 years, but instead took 13 years and came in under the budgeted $3 billion, at $2.7 billion.