Genome map hailed as landmark
2003-04-15 10:19
Washington - A six country consortium announced on Monday that it had drawn up a complete map of the human genome, completing one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever and offering a major opportunity for medical advances.
The six countries in the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium - Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United States - said the work had been finished two years ahead of schedule.
The heads of government of the consortium said in a joint statement that now "revolutionary progress will be made in biomedical sciences and in the health and welfare of humankind".
Scientists have predicted major progress can now be made in many incurable and genetic diseases.
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the lead agency in the United States, said the work was historic.
"The international effort to sequence the three billion DNA letters in the human genome is considered by many to be one of the most ambitious scientific undertakings of all time, even compared to splitting the atom or going to the moon," the NHGRI said in a statement.
Before the original deadline
NHGRI director Francis Collins, the leader of the international team, said "all of the project's goals have been completed successfully - well in advance of the original deadline and for a cost substantially less than the original estimates."
The human genome map cost about $2.7 billion to draw up, about $300 million under the original estimate, according to the US institute.
Research by hundreds of experts at 20 centres in the six countries started in 1990 and a first draft of the human sequence was made public in June 2000.
Scientists announced in February they had completed a map of 95 percent of the human genome. The complete sequence includes an estimated 30 000 to 40 000 genes that encode more than 10 times that number of proteins.
The finished sequence produced by the Human Genome Project covers about 99 percent of the human genome's gene-containing regions, and it has been sequenced to an accuracy of 99.9 percent, the US institute said.
New vision
US researchers said that later this month they would release their "bold new vision for the future of genome research, officially ushering in the era of the genome."
The release will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the announcement by Nobel laureates James Watson and Francis Crick describing DNA's double helix.
Watson, who was the first leader of the project, said "never would I have dreamed in 1953 that my scientific life would encompass the path from DNA's double helix to the three billion steps of the human genome".
He added that the finished map was "a truly momentous occasion for every human being around the globe".
The heads of government of all six nations - Tony Blair of Britain, Wen Jiabao of China, Jacques Chirac of France, Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, Junichiro Koizumi of Japan and George W Bush of the United States - hailed the work of the scientists.
Tools to cure
"This genetic sequence provides us with the fundamental platform for understanding ourselves, from which revolutionary progress will be made in biomedical sciences and in the health and welfare of humankind," the leaders said.
"Thus, we take today an important step toward establishing a healthier future for all the peoples of the globe, for whom the human genome serves as a common inheritance.
"Their outstanding work will be noted in the history of science and technology, and as well in the history of humankind, as a landmark achievement."
Knowledge of the human genome will enable scientists to find better ways of preventing medical problems, new drugs to treat previously untreatable disorders and medicines with fewer side effects, according to experts.
The human genome project will also give scientists the tools to cure every known form of cancer because it provides researchers with a guide of where to look for cancer-causing defects in genes and enzymes, according to leading cancer researcher Brian Druker.