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By Dr Tushar Chauhan September 25, 2022

10 Amazing Human Genome Project Facts

“It is a huge, important and ambitious scientific exploration in history- Robert Waterstone.”

Image credit: NHGRI.

The  Human Genome Project was conducted to decode the entire genomic sequence of the human genome.

Aim

Image credit: NHGRI.

1

The original project included not only humans but also the genome sequencing of E Coli, drosophila, mouse and yeast.

Objectives

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2

The project was started in October 1990 and was officially completed in April 2003. However, The first draft was published by US and UK in 2000. 

Start and End

Image credit: Wikipedia

3

Shotgun sequencing was the primary technique for the project. However, the project was completed using Sanger sequencing.

Techniques used

Image credit: NHGRI.

4

The human genome contains around 3.2 billion base pairs and 20,000 to 30,000 genes.

Outputs

Image credit: NHGRI.

5

A huge cohort of the human genome sequences of approx 97% is non-coding, junk or functionally unknown.  

Outputs

Image credit: NHGRI.

6

The largest human gene is dystrophin which is 2.5Mb in size. Only 2 to 3% portion of the genome contains coding genes. 

Outputs

Image credi: achievement.org

7

The HG sequencing consortium conducted the project in separate laboratories across 20 different countries including US and UK.

Participants

Image credi: achievement.org

8

Samples were taken from individuals of different races, populations and ethnicity without compromising confidentiality.  

Confidentiality

Image credit: NHGRI.

9

The official budget of the entire HGP was 3 billion dollars, meaning it cost roughly one dollar to sequence each nucleotide.

Cost

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10

HGP provided amazing information regarding human life. Soon after other sequencing projects were initiated to sequence the genome of other organisms.

Video by Andrew Kalanchuk from Pixabay