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Humań Gene Count Tumbles Again

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2008) — Estimates of the number of genes in the human genome have ranged wildly over the past two decades, from 20,000 all the way up to 150,000. By the time the working draft of the human genome was published in 2001, the best approximation stood at 35,000, yet even that number has fallen. A new anaiysis, one that harnesses the power of comparing genome sequences of various organisms, now reveals that the true number of human genes is about 20,500, thousands fewer than what is currently listed in human gene catalogs.

See Also:

Health & Medicine

•    Genes

•    Human Biology

•    Gene Therapy

•    Personalized Medicine

•    Parkinsons Research

•    Breast Cancer

Reference

•    BRCA1

•    Human genome

•    Human Genome Proiect

The work. led by researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Han/ard, has implications beyond merely settling the debate over how many genes are in the human genome. An accurate gene count can help identify the locations of genes and

their functions, an important step in translating genomie information into

biomedical advances.

Ironically, the way genes are recognized has triggered much of the confusion overthe human gene count. Scientists on the hunt for typical genes — that is, the ones that encode proteins — have