Genetics Research :: essays research papers fc

The Future of Genetics The HGP began in 1990, it is a 13-year effort coordinated and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health. The Human Genome Project’s goals are to identify all the 100,000 genes in human DNA; determine the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA; store this information in databases; develop tools for data analysis; transfer related technologies to the private sector; and address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. A working draft of the human sequence was completed earlier this year, 2000. The U.S. Human Genome Project (HGP), composed of the DOE and NIH Human Genome Programs, is the national coordinated effort to characterize all human genetic material by determining the complete sequence of the DNA in the human genome. The HGP's ultimate goal is to discover all the more than 80,000 human genes and render them accessible for further biological study. To facilitate the futu re interpretation of human gene function, parallel studies are being carried out on selected model organisms, such as Drosophilia Melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. According to the department of energy program report, a perfect draft of the human sequence is due in 2003. Some of the ways that geneticists use to map the Human Gene are Atomic Force Microscopy of Biochemically Tagged DNA, Intracellular Flow Karyotyping, and Electrotransformation for Introducing DNA into Industrial Bacilli Intracellular flow karyotyping appears to be a feasible and beneficial method for analyzing karyotype aberrations from individual cells using flow cytogenetics. The flow karyotyping method allows quantification of chromosomal DNA by flow cytometry and thus analysis of chromosomal aberrations on chromosome suspensions. Amounts of data providing statistical significance can be collected quickly and the approach allows accurate mapping of chromosomal DNA composition. The limitation of the method is at the cellular level of analysis, which is an impossibility to detect low-frequency or heterogeneous events, with this method. The aim of this intracellular flow karyotyping project is improving the technology to extend the method to the analysis of karyotype aberrations from individual cells. This technology might be especially useful for the detection and quantification of heterogeneous abnormalities. Chromosomal changes of this type occur through ionising radiation exposure and are involved in karyotype instability and tumorigenesis. This approach will be investigated both for biological dosimetry purposes, especially in low-dose contexts (count of abnormal cells, count of abnormalities per cell) and for research purposes (karyotype instability known as tumorigenesis).