The plunge and rise of stocks, scientific power struggles, ethical disputes and even national pride - all of these, and not only them, are involved in the storm generated by the race to sequence the human genome
The news about the genome is chasing each other at a dizzying pace. It started with the announcement of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair about a month ago that the genome belongs to everyone and that the issuing of patents on human genes should be prohibited. This announcement, based on a misunderstanding, led to the plunge of biotechnology shares, due to the fear of investors who understand the matter even less than heads of state. The presidential statement was mainly directed against the Celera Genomics company, which announced about two years ago that it would decode the human genome on its own. Celera caused outrage both because she implied that the investments in the genome project by the United States and British governments were a waste of public money and because she announced her intention to register patents for the use of the functional genes she discovers, something that basically everyone does, including the universities. Then Celera and other Genome companies responded with reassuring messages, in an attempt to get out of the financial collapse. First of all, it was announced that the companies intend to make the results of the decoding of the human genome available to the public, even if this will only be done after the patent filing procedures are completed. Immediately afterwards, Celera announced the completion of the sequencing of the genome of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster (nectar-loving black-bellied). The DNA sequence containing more than one hundred million chemical letters was immediately made available to the public, and it was also clarified that it was obtained in cooperation with the Genome Center at the University of Berkeley, that is, with the array supported by the United States government.
Only a few days passed and Celera came out with another explosive announcement: the sequencing of the human genome was also completed! The announcement, which prompted some stock rises, rightly caused a mixture of excitement and uneasiness. The genome project began in 1990 and was supposed to end in 2005, after 15 years of superior scientific and technological effort. It seemed far-fetched that precisely now, at a critical moment of public debate and stock market turmoil, one of humanity's most ambitious ventures would suddenly be completed. What exactly has happened in the weeks that have passed since the outbreak of the storm until now?
The World Genome Project was funded for a decade by public bodies in the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan. The main goal: to decipher the complete human DNA sequence, about three billion bases (chemical letters) and about 120 thousand genes, which are a kind of entries in the genetic encyclopedia. The first seven years of the project were spent carrying out an intermediate step, which at the time seemed necessary to achieve the goal - creating a map The mapping reveals only the location of each entry in the volumes of the genetic encyclopedia, aka the chromosomes, and it must be clearly distinguished from the sequencing, which allows to "read" the exact text they include.
In 1997 it was decided to stop mapping efforts and technological developments and concentrate on paving. It seemed that it was possible to make do with technology that had already proven itself - a device called a "fluorescence-based automatic DNA sequencer" (MDA). About 300 such devices already stood in the genome centers of the world and together they were able to emit about ten million DNA bases per day. Apparently, the reading of three billion DNA bases was supposed to be completed in one year. But the situation was apparently more complicated, due to the practical way in which the flooring is carried out.
The MDA device is able to "digest" only small pieces of DNA, 800-400 letters long. In the method accepted all over the world, including the Genome Center of the Weizmann Institute of Science, the analysis is carried out each time on a section of about 100 thousand letters, which is chopped into short and partially overlapping pieces, thousands of which are randomly arranged. A computer program then assembles this intricate puzzle into continuous text, similar to how dominoes are arranged in a double row, with identical symbols facing each other. For this purpose, it was found that it is essential to sequence each region of the DNA text about eight times, in order to obtain a sequence that is almost completely free of errors. The scientists call this "sequencing in depth 8", since the computer draws a diagram similar to an 8-layer domino. It therefore turns out that the original task lasted from one year to eight years and was Should end deep in the current decade.
Then, about two years ago, something happened in the genome world. The Parkin Elmer company released a new type of MADAF to the market, based on capillary tubes as thin as a hair in which the DNA bases are read at a rate ten times greater. Craig Venter then founded Celera, raised capital and purchased more than 200 devices - the first to be produced. Furthermore, he developed a massive computer system and sophisticated algorithms and announced that with their help he would be able to apply the domino method to the entire human genome at once. This is in contrast to the path taken by the government projects, in which the act of the chariot is carried out section by section and the final arrangement is determined according to the map that was built in the first years. These are therefore two complementary strategies, each of which has advantages and disadvantages, and they can be combined in one. The outrage against Selera stemmed in part from the fact that the findings of the public project were available to her and helped her put the pieces of the puzzle together, while her own findings remained confidential.
Celera's current announcement that she has finished sequencing the genome should be taken with great caution. What did happen is that she scattered pieces of DNA only 3 deep, and their computer analysis will only be carried out in the coming weeks. Statistically, therefore, almost all regions of the genome are represented, but due to randomness, the domino line is still very far from complete. It has thousands of "holes", and many There are chances that there are many errors in the sections that have already been laid out due to the difficulties of the algorithm, which tries to deal with the entire length of the genome in one go. On the other hand, the public project is having impressive successes, and at the end of last week it was known that the creation of a draft of the sequence of three human chromosomes, in addition to the reading of chromosome 22, which was completed a few days ago months. These achievements are also limited - the government projects have felt their pace under the pressure of competition and somewhat lowered the error-limiting standards. There are also gaps in the completed chromosomes, even if their number is smaller than in the commercial project.
The bottom line of this intriguing struggle is more important than any disagreement: Man is very close to deciphering the genetic text that encodes all his traits. By the end of the year 2000, the two hawkish parties will have completed the job, and humanity will have a vast and abundant database of information from which medical benefits can be derived. Temporarily hiding the information and registering a patent on a part of it, while maintaining reasonable limitations that have been applied for many years, are essential to the process of developing new medicines for the benefit of all humanity. This will be possible by discovering the genes hidden in the DNA sequence and by studying the biochemical properties of the proteins that these genes encode.
Scientists at the universities will be able to use all their talent as part of the "genome harvest", based on genome and bioinformatics (biological computing) infrastructures established during the project in many places around the world, including in Israel - with the support of the Ministry of Science. Genomic biotechnology will flourish, as it is a long-term process that will last years and even decades. As part of it, excellent genetic diagnostics will be developed, including that containing DNA chips, and complex medicines will be created that are personalized for each person. Thus, while relying on a deep understanding of life processes, they will be eradicated In the end, most of the diseases, and the controversy of the spring of 2000 will be forgotten from the heart.
