Question

What is a genome project and how do they work? I have to "outline a genome project and use examples to succinctly describe two possible uses for the information derived from such a project." but I dont have a great understanding of what a genome project is to begin with so any explination would be great.

Thanks!

Answer 1

The genome project is the effort of scientist to decode the entire sequence of the bases in the DNA of human beings i.e. the sequence of A, T, G & C bases. In the first phase of the Human Genome Project, also called as the shotgun phase, the entire set of DNA in the 23 pairs human chromosomes was divided DNA segments, and these segments were further subdivided into overlapping smaller segments and then sequenced. For each segment of the DNA clones were made and then these clones were sequenced. Data from multiple clones was assembled to develop overlap and hence a contiguous sequence was determined.

In the second phase the company Celera which founded by Craig Venter made use of used computational methods by developing algorithms sophisticated and used the overlapping sequences of identify DNA that were obtained from shotgun sequencing. This led to the reconstruction of the entire human genome as scaffolds were generated by this technique.

Applications of the human genome project:

Understanding of diseases as genotyping of pathogens i.e. bacteria and viruses can be easily done

Identification of mutations leading in diseases like cancer, diabetes etc. possible

Advancements in forensics (techniques of DNA fingerprinting) sciences possible.

Development of more patient specific i.e. personalized treatment.

Improvement of gene therapy.

In agriculture is has been used to increase yield of the plants and make them drought resistant

Mapping the genome of methane producing microorganisms can led to inexpensive production of methane that can be used as a fuel.