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Human genome moves closer to reality

The publication last week by Nature of the latest genome “directory” has focused attention on the international quest to map and sequence the human genome. Subtitled “An atlas of ourselves,” the 379 page supplement includes a physical map of three quarters of the human genome, a much more detailed map of chromosome 16, and a paper containing many thousands of short stretches of DNA called “expressed sequence tags,” which are used to identify genes.

Although this state of the art publication is some way from the human genome project's goals—to compile a complete physical map and a genetic map and finally to sequence the entire genome—it comes only weeks after the publication in Science (269: 496-512) of another genetic milestone—the sequence of Haemophilus influenzae, the first complete sequence of a free living organism. Both underline just how fast molecular genetics is moving.

The information from this primary scientific research has already had a major impact on genetics research, and, as two recent reports to the NHS Central Research and Development Committee (the report of the Genetics Research …