Genome science began formally in 1990 with the establishment of the Human Genome Project. This enormous project is the combined effort between the United States Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The project was based on the mission of pursuing a greater understanding of individual health risks. The Human Genome Project goals were to general a high-quality reference sequence and identify all human genes, as well as enhance computational resources to support future research and commercial applications.
There are approximately 35,000 genes in the Human Genome, however, functions for more that half of discovered genes are unknown. Genes are made up of DNA base pairs arranged in a double-helix formation. Our individual uniqueness lies in the small differences of bases that can exist where single base DNA differences (SNPs) occur in humans. The SNP information promises to revolutionize the process of finding gene locations for disease-associated sequences. Finding the DNA sequences underlying such common diseases as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis and cancer is being aided by the human SNP maps. These genes and SNPs provide focused targets for the development of effective new therapies.
Provided by "Your Genetic Compass" by Genewize
Yours in health,
Rhonda
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.