For geneticists, the findings of what massive undertaking are significant in determining disease-causing alleles?
human organisms project
human produce project
Visible Human Project
human genome project
Understanding and curing genetic diseases is the ultimate goal of human geneticists. As discussed in the Human Genetics: Diagnosis and Treatment (Advanced) concept, gene therapy is the insertion of a new gene into an individual’s cells and tissues to treat a disease, replacing a mutant disease-causing allele with a normal, non-mutant allele. Of course, the findings of the Human Genome Project are significant in determining the disease-causing alleles. Geneticists must know which are mutant alleles and which are non-mutant or "normal" alleles. They must also be able to identify alleles that are not just associated with a particular disease phenotype, but cause a disease phenotype. And of course, scientists must develop and test the technology to replace mutant alleles.