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Now, the Hard Part: Putting the Genome to Work [NYTimes, 27 Jun 2000]A blast from the past, when the human genome was first pronounced "finished". Though written nearly a decade ago, it does a good job of framing the big issues that are still very relevant to the human genome project today. |
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Unlocking the secrets of the genomeHere's a good companion article to my previous bookmark -- published almost exactly 9 years later, and describing how much we have yet to learn. Summary: "Despite the successes of genomics, little is known about how genetic information produces complex organisms. A look at the crucial functional elements of fly and worm genomes could change that." |
There is a really cool project underway called the Genographic project that is working on figuring out how we humans spread across the globe using "computer analysis of DNA contributed by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world:"
https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html
They state: "DNA studies suggest that all humans today descend from a group of African ancestors who—about 60,000 years ago—began a remarkable journey." In evolutionary terms, sixty thousand years ago is quite short, not enough time for significant genetic or physiological changes to accumulate within the extant set of all humans.
So the data from the Genographic project underscores how we are pretty much one large, widely dispersed clan. Spreading this message is one of the goals of TeamHuman.org.
The PBS NOVA program "Cracking the Code of Life" had a great interview with Dr. Eric Lander:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genome/deco_lander.html
Here's a great quote:
"So race is not a very helpful category to a geneticist, because it's focusing on a fairly small number of genes that describe appearance. But if we're talking about physiology, if we're talking about the 30,000 genes that run the human symphony, that's a tapestry that weaves through every population. That's why geneticists really don't think race is a terribly helpful concept."
