The research of Human Genome project
The completion of Human Genome Project took 13 years in total; it started in October 1990 and finished in 2003. This project has a controversial start, because many people didn’t believe that the technology they have is advance enough to sequence the human DNA, not even a bacterium. However, the project is successful and it ended 2 years earlier than it was planed to. The first accomplishment is the rough draft of the human genome; it was completed in 2000, in February of the next year, the working draft is done,
The HGP has many purposes, it includes:
• Identify all the genes in human DNA, which is around 20,000-25,000.
• Find out the sequences of the 3 billion chemical base pairs of human DNA,[1]
• Store all the information found in a database.
• Develop more advanced tools for analyzing data.
• Bring the advanced technology to private sectors and use them.
• Address issues regarding the HGP project in social, legal and ethical aspects.
Application of HGP
The technology of HGP has been applied in many fields, including Medicine, Forensic Identification, and energy production etc.
The result of the HGP can be used for diagnosis of genetic disorders. If a gene’s location is known, and we also know that a mutation in the gene can cause a disorder, the diagnosis can be made, even for a fetus. PCR or gel electrophoresis can be used for analyzing the DNA.
Gene therapy is another application of HGP, this is mainly to insert normal genes into patients’ cells, and once the gene is there, it can perform its normal function, so the disorder of the patient is cured.
Despite the project itself, the new capabilities from the HGP is also applied into creating new energy sources. Scientists started the Microbial Genome Program to sequence the genomes of bacteria to produce energy, “environmental remediation”, or “toxic waste reduction”.[2]
In the application for Forensic...