Minding the genome gap
HUGO conference opens with plea to refocus efforts on differences, not
disease genotypes
By Stephen Pincock

BERLIN-Roughly a year after the human genome sequence was completed,
scientists meeting at the opening of the Human Genome Meeting on Sunday
(April 4) were reminded about the enormous gaps that remain in our
understanding of our genetic makeup.

"We have the sequence of 100 species or so a click away on the Web. but how
do we use that information? How can we address the complexity of disease
background at the DNA level?" asked Leena Peltonen, from the University of
Helsinki in Finland. "We shouldn't be unrealistically optimistic."

"We are still not sure what is the best way to understand the function of
the genome," Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) President Yoshiyuki Sakaki
told the opening session. Maynard Olson from the University of Washington,
added, "The future of genomics is a really big topic."

Olson said that future may be in peril unless the scientific establishment
focuses on a fundamental aspect of human genetics that has been overlooked:
how the most obvious differences among individuals-like hair color, height,
weight, and handedness-are generated.

"It's truly striking. how little we know about these obvious questions that
even a child would ask," Olson said. "Why have geneticists ignored this
question of why humans vary from one another in these ways?" he asked. It
has been ignored partly because of the complexity of the issue, the
difficulty of getting funds for nonmedical research, and "the long shadow of
eugenics," Olson said. "Our obsessive focus on disease genotypes is
premature. My broader agenda is essential for longer-term benefits."

"Its going to take all of our efforts. to develop the level of trust with
society that would make it acceptable to study this subject that is
essential to human genomics," Olson said. Difficult as these ethical issues
are, mainstream science needs to focus on them, rather than leave it to
rogue elements, he said. "Are we prepared to bring to bear the value systems
of the science establishment to bear on these questions or are we going to
engage in a long guerrilla war with fringe elements?" he asked.

Links for this article
T.M. Powledge, "Human Genome Project complete," The Scientist, April 15,
2003.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20030415/03/

Human Genome Meeting, Berlin, April 4-7, 2004
http://hgm2004.hgu.mrc.ac.uk/

Leena Peltonen
http://www.hi.helsinki.fi/hi/res/palotie/palotie.html

Yoshiyuki Sakaki
http://www.hgc.ims.u-tokyo.ac.jp/organize/sakaki/members/sakaki/

Maynard Olson
http://www.gs.washington.edu/faculty/olson.htm

>From The Scientist.com
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040405/03

Comparing relatives

Developments in chimp and kangaroo genomics offer different insights into
human genetics
By Stephen Pincock

BERLIN-A better understanding of the genetic makeup of our closest and most
distant mammalian relations is shedding new light on the human genome,
researchers told the Human Genome Meeting here on Monday (April 5).

At the distant end of the spectrum, Australian researchers want to begin
large-scale sequencing of the kangaroo genome. With about 180 million years
of independent evolution separating humans from the jumping marsupials,
there are few mammals that are more distant from us, and that offers unique
opportunities.

"The platypus is even more distantly related, and they're going to be
important too, but the platypus isn't your normal experimental animal,"
Jenny Graves from the Australian National University told The Scientist. For
one thing, she said, they are nearly impossible to breed in captivity.

Focusing on the kangaroo as a good example of a remote relative is "turning
out to be a very effective way to spot genes and control sequences," Graves
told the conference.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040405/02

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