by Chris Wickham

Created on: February 08, 2007   Last Updated: May 02, 2007

The Human Genome Project is a worldwide effort formally initiated in October 1990 which intended to last fifteen years but was completed early in 2003. In general, the project aimed to map the human genome and store the information gathered for further biological and medicinal study. It was directed by Ari Patrinos, head of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research and involved scientists from health establishments from at least 18 of the world's major nations, one of which being the Sanger Centre, Cambridge in the UK. Other countries involved include the United States, Russia, France, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Japan.

The Human Genome Project was a very ambitious undertaking and had many different aims. The first task was to determine the sequence of bases which code for the four nitrogen-containing bases found in DNA (adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine) and to identify the estimated 100,000 genes formed by these bases. Another task was to locate all the genes present of the 23 human chromosomes and to have this information stored for future reference and further biological analysis. In order to make these previous tasks easier, scientists also attempted to invent more advanced and efficient DNA sequencing techniques. One goal, which is often overlooked, was to consider all ethical, legal and social issues which may arise from obtaining information about the human genome. These tasks were set out in five-year plans but were often completed ahead of their deadlines due to technological advances.
There are multiple other genome projects which aim to map the genome of different organisms. The Microbial Genome Project (intiated in 1994) aims to map the genome of microorganisms involved in processes such as energy production, environmental remediation, diseases and industrial processes. It is hoped that the study of such organisms may lead to breakthroughs in the development of energy-related biotechnologies, systems that function in extreme environments and drugs involved in killing pathogenic microbes. The Human Genome Diversity Project aims to map the genome between various human ethnic groups in an attempt to analyse the vulnerability of different races to certain diseases and how these populations have adapted. The International HapMap Project aims to create a map of the human genome which describes the genetic variation between humans. This information is expected to be a key resource in identifying the genes responsible for health, diseases and

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