Reading the entire human genome — one long sentence at a time

This article was originally published at The Conversation France.

by Tejas Yadav, Postdoctoral Researcher & Science Writer, Institut Curie

When the Human Genome Project completed its work in 2003, the entire human genome was published in book form. Stephen C. Dickson/Wikimedia, CC BY

Fifteen years ago, the Human Genome Project announced they had cracked the code of life. Nonetheless, the published human genome map was incomplete and parts of our DNA remained to be deciphered. Now, a new study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology brings us closer to a complete genetic blueprint by using a nanotechnology-based sequencing technique.

Like ancient Egyptian ruins covered in mysterious hieroglyphics, the letters and words in our genetic code remained unutterable for a long time. In an effort to solve this genetic cipher, the Human Genome Project, a collaborative international consortium, was created. The goal was to read out the DNA sequence — made up of four letters, or bases, A,T,G and C — of all human genes (genome). In 2003, a near-complete map of the human genome was reported. The scientific community hailed the momentous event as a turning point, perhaps overshadowed only by the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA. Indeed, for the first time in human history, we could read and understand the language of our “being”. Yet, the assembled genome represented only 92% of all human genes. Gaps remained that could not be…