Photo: VITSTUDIO/Depositphotos
Humanity is a work in progress, and sequencing the human genome has been too.
By 2003, the project had sequenced three billion chemical base pairs that make up human DNA.
This phenomenally successful project eventually documented 92% of the genome.
Photo: VITSTUDIO/Depositphotos
However, it would take almost 20 years to decode the final eight percent.
As announced inScience, a team of researchers has at last sequenced a full human genome.
The previously mapped portion of the genome contained the euchromatin regions of the genome.
DNA structure showing the iconic double helix. (Photo: Zephyris viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0)
These portions of DNA, RNA, and proteins are more loosely packed, making them easier to decode.
They also play fundamental roles in directing cell activities.
The heterochromatin regionsby contrastwere known as the dark matter of DNA.
These dense packets of DNA material contain many repeating sequences.
They have long been difficult to decode.
With machine technology and manual methods, the researchers began to attack the dark matter portions of the genome.
Their results are finally past the peer-review process as the first fully-mapped human genome.
The findings will offer a peek into a previously unknown genetic mine.
DNA structure showing the iconic double helix.
