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The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7245 p536
19 April 2003

Related websites
Ensembl Genome Browser (www.ensembl.org)
Nature (more)
Genome Sciences Centre in British Columbia (www.bcgsc.bc.ca)

Human genome sequenced two years ahead of schedule

Two years ahead of schedule the human genome has been sequenced, the International Human Genome Consortium announced earlier this week. The achievement comes less than three years after the team published the original working draft of the genome in Nature and 50 years after the double helix structure of DNA was described in the same journal.

Professor Allan Bradley, director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the only British institute involved in the human genome project, said: "Completing the human genome is a vital step on a long road but the eventual health benefits could be phenomenal. We shouldn't expect immediate major breakthroughs but there is no doubt we have embarked on one of the most exciting chapters of the book of life."

The Sanger Institute provided more than 0.8 billion of the 2.9 billion letters of DNA code that have been read as part of the project, making it the biggest single contributor.

Researchers can access the human genome sequence via the internet (www.ensembl.org).

A report on the future of genomics research has been published by Nature to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of Crick and Watson's description of DNA and the completion of the human genome project. The report's authors, from the United States National Human Genome Research Institute, set out their vision for genomics research and lay down ambitious research targets for the scientific community.

The report is due to appear in the 24 April issue of Nature but is available now online.

SARS virus sequenced A draft genetic sequence for the human coronavirus implicated in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has been published by Canadian scientists. The scientists, from the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre in British Columbia, received one millionth of a gram of purified viral genetic material and have since generated the genomic sequence of the Toronto isolate, TOR2, of the coronavirus. The information, which has been posted on the centre's website (www.bcgsc.bc.ca), will lead to the development of definitive diagnostic tests for SARS, say the researchers.