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The Human Genome Project
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The Human Genome Project II - The Private Effort
October 25, 2007

"Craig Venter, simply put, is a self-proclaimed maverick, and never thinks inside the box." Kristen Philipkoski, Wired Magazine, Feb 2001

Craig Venter's FOUR pioneering scientific discoveries. "All were achieved because of his skill in spotting the gains that could be achieved from the new DNA sequencing technologies made possible by Applied Biosystems / PE Biosystems. All three were initially met with strong resistance from the scientific community, but are now considered to be among the fastest, most accurate ways to analyze the genome of any organism" [quote from NYTimes, now archived].

Another quote: :)
(1) 1984 - 1991: New method for sequencing genes: ESTs
(2) 1992 - 1998: Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing
(3) 1998 - 2002: The Human Genome
(4) 2002-Present: Metagenomics

 

(1) 1984 - 1991: New method for sequencing genes: ESTs (go to figures in this article)

  • Complementary DNA sequencing: expressed sequence tags and human genome project.Adams, M.D., J.M. Kelley, J.D. Gocayne, M. Dubnick, M.H. Polymeropoulos, H. Xiao, C. R. Merril, A. Wu, B. Olde, R.F. Moreno, A.R. Kerlavage, W.R. McCombie, and J.C. Venter. 1991. Science 252: 1651–1656. Note that in PubMed, only the first 10 authors are listed! : ) [PDF]

  • A major milestone in this period:
    Sequence identification of 2,375 human brain genes. Nature. 1992 Feb 13;355(6361):632-4. Last line of the abstract: "These data represent an approximate doubling of the number of human genes identified by DNA sequencing and may represent as many as 5% of the genes in the human genome." Or - October 2004, make that 10% of the human genome![PDF]

(2) 1992 - 1998: The Formation of TIGR and HGSI; New method for sequencing genes: Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing

In 1995 Venter, Fraser et al. at TIGR used a new technique developed by Venter, Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing, to successfully sequence the first complete genome ever, that of Haemophilus influenzae. Venter, JC et. al. (1996)

(3) 1998 - 2002: The Formation of Celera Genomics; New method for large-scale sequencing projects:

 

 

A major milestone in this period:
June 26, 2000 Love Fest at the White House: "PRESIDENT CLINTON ANNOUNCES THE COMPLETION OF THE FIRST SURVEY OF THE ENTIRE HUMAN GENOME: Hails Public and Private Efforts Leading to This Historic Achievement:

 

 

February 15 and 16, 2001: The simultaneous publication of the historic Genome Issues of Nature (Collins et. al, Human Genome Project) and Science (Venter et. al, Celera Genomics).

 

Celera Milestones from this period:
(What, only two things done in this whole time?)

 


Genome Milestones from TIGR:

 

(4) 2002-Present: Sailing the Genome Seas: The Sorcerer II Expedition


New career: circumnavigating the globe on a quest for genomes (Environmental Genome Shotgun Sequencing of the Sargasso Sea, Science, 2 April 2004)

 

Major milestones in this period:

 

 

II. Sequencing the Human Genome - The Technology:

Sequencing comparison - public vs. private: Bac-to-Bac vs. Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing (handout)

Shotgun Sequencing:

 

Objectives: HGP Part 2;
1. Explain the relationship between TIGR, HGSI, and Celera.
2. Describe ESTs: what are they, how are they made, what they represent, and why are they useful in genome analysis?
3. Describe Whole Genome Shotgun Sequencing and 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages over Bac-to-Bac sequencing
4. Describe the effect the formation of Celera Genomics had on the Human Genome Project.
5. How to the Bermuda Principles relate to Celera's completion of the Human Genome sequence
6. Describe some of the Major Milestones at each 'phase' of Venter's career
7. Describe the Sorcerer II Expedition, and its major findings.

 

 

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