- SHANGHAI, China (Reuters)
-- Scientists expect to publish next year the complete sequence of the
human genome, a development that could revolutionize medicine, the head
of a leading genome research organization has said.
-
- "It will be completed in 2003," said Lap-Chee
Tsui, president of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO), who was in
Shanghai
for a four-day human genome conference.
-
- "Everybody is trying very hard to meet that
deadline."
-
- London-based HUGO is the largest international non-profit
organization involved in human genome research.
-
- The Human Genome Project, a consortium of scientists
from the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Germany and China, will
establish the complete human genome sequence by spring of 2003, a HUGO
statement said.
-
- In a breakthrough in early 2001, the team published the
initial sequence of the human genome in the U.K.-based scientific journal
Nature.
-
- A similar sequence compiled by rival Maryland-based
Celera
Genomics Group was also published in the Science journal, another
scientific
publication.
-
- Available publicly
-
- The sequence of 3.1 billion letters of DNA showed humans
are made up of about 30,000 to 40,000 genes, far below previous predictions
of 60,000 to 100,000.
-
- Tsui said the team's complete sequence, like its initial
sequence, would be available publicly.
-
- When Celera published its draft last year, scientists
had limited access to it with some information requiring
subscription.
-
- "It is quite clear that Celera will not be doing
any more sequencing and (for) the public project of course, by definition,
we are going to release it to the public," said Tsui.
-
- Tsui also said China was actively involved in the human
genome projects in hopes of finding answers to treatment of common ailments
found in the country.
-
- "In China, they will probably concentrate on the
diseases that are affecting the Chinese population most. For example, liver
cancer, and a lot of the infectious disease that are more (commonly found)
here than other places," he said.
-
- Tsui said Chinese scientists were also delving into plant
genetics and bio-engineering research to improve the quality of its key
crops such as rice, widely regarded as a basis for studying other
grains.
-
- Scientists said earlier this month they were publishing
a draft genome sequence of rice, the staple food for Chinese and a third
to a half of the world's population, but Tsui said it would take years
before its complete sequence could be set in place.
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