-Caveat Lector-
{{So we are in a very rudimentary phase of this research. Might
have thought we would get this info in hand before we began
experimenting on human life (note I did NOT say people but rather
the essence of human life itself) but I guess not. The entire
continent of Africa is dying of AIDS, starvation and violence and
no one cares. Our technology has far outstripped our ability to
deliver it but then that is true of even the production of food.
So the wealthy demand immortality and the hungry, well they just go
hungry. AKE}}
Humans: more genes than thought?
New analysis suggests estimate of 30,000 genes too low
By Daniel Q. Haney
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Aug. 23 - Scientists are questioning the most surprising
discovery from last winter's deciphering of the human genetic
code - the assertion that people have only about 30,000 genes, or
roughly twice as many as the fruit fly.
Scientists are running a betting pool on the total number of
human genes. Which of these estimates do you think will come
closest?
30,000 genes
50,000 genes
60,000 genes
75,000 genes
100,000 genes
Scientists are running a betting pool on the total number of
human genes. Which of these estimates do you think will come
closest?
* 545 responses
30,000 genes
6%
50,000 genes
22%
60,000 genes
13%
75,000 genes
17%
100,000 genes
43%
Survey results tallied every 60 seconds. Live Votes reflect
respondents' views and are not scientifically valid surveys.
A NEW ANALYSIS suggests that number is too low, and the
real total could be considerably bigger. However, researchers who
came up with the original figure are sticking with it, at least for
now.
Scientists have long argued over how many genes it takes to
build a human. Educated guesses have ranged up to 150,000.
The issue seemed settled last February, when two competing
scientific teams published the first detailed look at virtually the
entire library of genetic information contained in every human
cell.
Both groups laid out the 3 billion bits of data that make up
the code. Both used computers to distinguish the information that
is genes from the look-alike filler. And both came up with roughly
the same estimate: between 30,000 and 40,000 genes, with the best
bet under 35,000.
Some speculated that the relatively small number of human
genes was good news, because it means less work to understand how
they all work and perhaps translate that information into cures and
treatments for various diseases.
To many scientists, the fact that the two groups
independently arrived at the same number made it believable.
However, a team lead by Dr. Michael Cooke of the Genomics
Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego compared
the two groups' findings and found out that they had identified two
quite different sets of genes, with only roughly a 50 percent
overlap between them.
The two groups agreed on the existence of about 17,000
genes. But about 25,000 more were found only by one group or the
other.
"It's a jaw-dropper," said Cooke, whose findings are
published in Friday's issue of the journal Cell.
Just how many genes it takes to construct a human is unclear
from the latest analysis. While Cooke believes 30,000 is too low,
he estimates the total is probably not more than 60,000.
For now, nobody knows how many genes were missed by both
teams or how many of those identified by just one group truly are
genes.
One catalog of genes was compiled by Celera Genomics of
Rockville, Md., the other by an international consortium headed by
the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Officials of both Celera and the consortium contend that
most of the 25,000 genes found by just one group or the other will
turn out to be phonies, so the final answer may still be somewhere
around 30,000.
"It's way too simplistic to say you can add up the
non-overlapping sets and get a bigger number," said Celera
President Craig Venter. "They're probably bogus."
Dr. Francis Collins, head of the genome institute, agreed
the total is unlikely to grow hugely. "It would not stun me if
there turned out to be 50,000," he said. "It would stun me greatly
if there were 100,000."
Dr. Gerald Rubin, a fruit fly expert at the University of
California at Berkeley, said some scientists suspected all along
that the total number would turn out to be higher than 30,000. His
guess: Humans will have 54,000 genes, or four times more than the
13,600 in the fruit fly Drosophila.
Scientists are running a betting pool on what the total
will be, and so far 165 have entered. (The cost of a bet rose from
$1 to $5 after the release of February's data.) Right now, their
average guess is 61,710 genes. The winner will be chosen in 2003,
by which time it is hoped the answer will be clear.
Collins' bet, made two years ago, was 48,011. "I'll hold
on," he said. "I'm not completely retracting that."
� 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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