Monday, April 09, 2001

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Boston Globe Biotech CEO says map missed much of genome
"Somewhere within the vast microprocessors that hum in the Maryland offices of biotech firm Human Genome Sciences Inc. are the sequences of 60,000 never-before-seen human genes."

"Or so says Dr. William Haseltine, the CEO of Human Genome Sciences. He wants a recount. And he is not alone."

"Haseltine, one of the most respected - and wealthiest - geneticists of his generation, has a guess: 120,000. He said the world's best genetic minds missed tens of thousands of genes in their haste to produce the completed map.

''We believe they have missed as many as two-thirds of the genes that exist,'' said Haseltine in an interview. ''I think they are guilty of sloppy science and sloppy conclusions.''

redux [02.11.01]
USA Today Human genome makes mind-boggling reading
"The first close reading of the "The Book of Life" —the 3 billion letters that make up the human genetic code — reveals that it's packed with more mysteries and surprises than a pulp thriller. Perhaps the biggest surprise since the code was deciphered in June is that it takes just 30,000 to 40,000 genes to make, maintain and repair a human. That's far fewer than the 140,000 genes some had predicted and not many more than an earthworm or a common weed. "If you're judging the complexity of an organism by the number of genes it has, we've just taken a big hit in the pride department," says National Genome Research Institute's director Francis Collins, who also heads the U.S. arm of the international Human Genome Project (HGP)."

BBC Human genome: Nature or nurture?
"The human genome project has revealed that our genetic make-up is far less complicated than first thought.

Researchers have worked out that as few as 30,000 genes are needed to produce a human, only twice as many as the humble fruitfly.

One of the scientists behind the project, Dr Craig Venter says this would suggest our behaviour is not determined by our genes, with environmental factors playing a large part in shaping our thoughts and actions."

redux [11.13.00]
BioMedNet UK geneticist offers exact count of human genes
[requires 'free' registration]
"If James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA's structure, says we don't know how many genes there are, you're inclined to believe him. So it was a great surprise to hear the legend denounced, albeit with due deference. At the last count, insisted Kay Davies, professor of anatomy at the University of Oxford, humans are reckoned to have 40,944 tiny protein factories.

She was drawing on statistics that define the proteome, the protein equivalent of the genome, as the set of all expressed proteins in humans, for which 40,944 genes are individually responsible. Not a huge figure, she noted, barely the equivalent of three flies or a couple of worms. "Apologies Jim, let's talk over tea," she added."

redux [05.13.00]
Wired News Amped Geneticists Bet on Genome
"Well, they weren't all men, but mostly. The betting in the pub continued, the lowest bet being 29,800 genes placed by Pat Tome and the highest number coming from John Quackenbush at 118,259.

The pool was organized by Erwin Birney, a team leader at the European Bioinformatics Institute. He tried to convince the bartender to oversee the betting, but was told in no uncertain terms that no gambling was allowed in the Cold Spring bar.

Guesses on the number of genes in the human genome have lowered considerably since the mapping of chromosome 21, which researchers found to contain only 225 genes, far fewer than previously predicted. The researchers on the chromosome 21 study predicted their results could mean that there are as few as 40,000 genes in the entire human genome.

"Someone from Incyte will probably show up and bet 150,000," one gambler said."