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Scientists have finished mapping the entire human genome, about 20 years after most of the map was complete. In new research this week, a team reports they have achieved a gapless genome sequence, accounting for 8% of genetic information not previously known. The missing data may provide more insights about the evolutionary journey of humans as well as our susceptibility to diseases.
In 2003, a large coalition of scientists at the Human Genome Project unveiled the fruits of their labor: a nearly complete rendering of our genetic code. Even back then, though, it was known that they hadn’t gotten everything. Due to limitations at the time, they had focused on translating and reconstructing DNA from the euchromatin regions of the genome—the chunks of DNA, RNA, and proteins that are less tightly packed and are often active in our cells. This still amounted to mapping 92% of the genome, but it meant that the DNA in our heterochromatin regions would go undiscovered for some time.
Heterochromatin has been referred to as the dark matter of our genetic structure. Its chunks of genetic material are densely packed and filled with repeated sequences of DNA, both of which have made it harder to translate and reconstruct into something readable. But over the years, advances in genetic sequencing and a few lucky breaks have allowed scientists to get closer to deciphering these gaps. That eventually led researchers at the Telomere to Telomere (T2T) consortium to commit to fully mapping the genome. One of these breaks involved finding a cell line derived from those with a rare condition that left their cells with two identical copies of their father’s genome, as opposed to both parents like usual (the mixing of two genomes can make translating harder).
Even with machines now able to sequence DNA faster than ever before with near perfect accuracy, the effort still required manual translation for the most complex bits. But by 2020, the large team of scientists had published research on the first chromosomes they had mapped. By May 2021, they felt confident enough to release a preprint of their work on the entire genome. And in a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science, their full peer-reviewed work has finally been unveiled.
According to study author Evan Eichler, a researcher at the University of Washington School of Medicine and co-chair of the T2T consortium, the findings should provide valuable new insights about many different aspects of our biology and history. In time, he added, what we learn from this could very well revolutionize our current thinking about the variations inherent in our genes and how they have affected our evolutionary journey, along with the health problems that can arise from mutations.
Story Source: https://gizmodo.com/full-human-genome-finally-mapped-1848732687
