Scientists Read Human Genetic Code

Feb. 11, 2001 -- After a decade of work in laboratories around the nation and half a dozen other countries, researchers have finally achieved their goal of reading the human genome.

Scientists announced today that they have the first reading of the human genetic code, a feat some researchers compare to Copernicus determining the Earth revolved around the Sun, or Charles Darwin's formulating the theory of evolution.

In two landmark studies out this week, researchers detail almost the entire human genetic code.

The announcement marks the next major step in the project since scientists finished decoding the human genome last June. The decoding involved identifying and placing in order the 3.1 billion-unit long sequence that make up human DNA; the new work determines what the code says.

And the researchers say it's a lot simpler than they thought.

They had expected about 100,000 genes per person. Instead, they found about 30,000 — only twice as many as a fly has, and 10,000 more than a worm.

"That comes as a bit of a shock," said Dr. Craig Venter, who heads the Maryland-based Celera Genomics Corp.

"When you consider that other organisms that we know a lot about, like yeast and worms and flies and plants, have gene counts in some instances very close to that," he said.

Celera competed with the publicly-funded Human Genome Project to read the code.

Ready to Revolutionize Medicine

"It will fundamentally change medicine," Venter said. "It will give you power over your own life, instead of just randomly waiting for symptoms to appear — by the time they appear it's probably too late."

Scientists hope the genome work will help them find disease-promoting genes, develop better drugs, tailor therapies to particular patients, evaluate environmental hazards and study human evolution and migration.

The genome is the instruction book for the human species.

Almost every cell of your body contains coiled-up DNA — the famous twisting ladder of genetic instructions that is three billion rungs long.

Segments of DNA — known as genes — may give you red hair, or hazel eyes.

Data Show Humans Are 99.8 Percent the Same

Among the other findings, researchers for the Human Genome Project found that human beings are genetically 99.8 percent identical, regardless of race or looks or where they were born.

"This is moving into a new era," said Dr. Francis Collins, a researcher with the Human Genome Project. "We won't have to go back again to the point where the genome was a hypothetical. It's real now."

Doctors will now begin the daunting task of turning this knowledge to practical use. Some experts hope the genome will lead to powerful new genetic medicines to tackle a huge variety of illnesses and conditions. They theorize that in coming decades, people will have access to a medicine based on their own, individual genes.

Researchers admit, however, that despite the progress they've made, there are many steps left to unlocking the genome's potential.