The Genome (lesson eleven)

Question 1

The Human Genome Project (HGP)

Answer 1

• The human genome project was an ambitious undertaking that started in 1990
• The goal was to determine the complete 3 billion nitrogenous base sequence of human DNA
• This took over 2000 scientists from around the world and special efforts from a company called Celera Genomics

Question 2

what happened in the year 2000

Answer 2

• In the year 2000, Celera Genomics and the HGP announced that they had deciphered the human genome sequence
• The human genome is made up of about 3 billion base pairs, with only about 2% accounting for your coding DNA
• That means about 98% of your DNA does not code for a gene so is called non-coding or junk DNA

Question 3

Functional Genomics

Answer 3

• Once the genome was sequenced, research could be conducted to isolate genes and determining their function
• This area of research is called functional genomics
• For example, the fact that we have identified genes that are a sign of increased risk for diseases like cancer are a product of functional genomics