For the primary time, researchers have sequenced all 3,117,275,501 bases of our genetic code

The human genome is ultimately full. Researchers have been working for many years towards this objective, and the Human Genome Challenge claimed victory in 2001, when it had learn virtually all of an individual’s DNA. However the cussed remaining 8 p.c of the genome took one other twenty years to decipher. These ultimate sections have been extremely repetitive and extremely variable amongst people, making them the toughest elements to sequence. But they revealed tons of of latest genes, together with genes concerned in immune responses and people accountable for people creating bigger brains than our primate ancestors. “Now that now we have one full reference, we will perceive human variation and the way we modified with respect to our closest associated species on the planet,” says geneticist Evan Eichler of the College of Washington, one of many co-chairs of the Telomere-to-Telomere consortium that completed the genome.

Editor’s Word (7/22/22): The graphic on this article was edited after posting to right the variety of bases in a completely gapless genomic sequence in 2022.
This text was initially revealed with the title “3,117,275,501 Bases, 0 Gaps” in Scientific American 327, 2, 92 (August 2022)
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0822-92