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Human Genome Quarterly, Winter 1990; 1(3)
Researchers Meet in Consecutive Sessions
Consecutive sessions of the Large Insert Cloning Workshop and the X-Chromosome Workshop were held in Houston, Texas, on December 12-14 and December 14-16. The meetings were sponsored by DOE and NIH.
Considerable progress was reported in the construction and analysis of yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs). Several groups are using YACs from the libraries prepared in the Washington University laboratories of David Schlessinger and Maynard Olson, and broader distribution of the libraries is planned. In the new technology of YAC construction/introduction, two reports illustrated that careful optimization of yeast permeability conditions is essential to achieve high transformation frequencies. Two systems described for introducing larger fragments for E. coli hosts are:
Methodologies discussed at the X-Chromosome Workshop illustrated the broad array of physical and genetic mapping techniques now being used to refine the knowledge of chromosome structure and function.
Included in the program were the following: genetic mapping through family studies, production of hybrids with chromosome fragments, cosmid mapping, YAC mapping, and DNA sequencing and microcloning (the polymerase chain reaction amplification and cloning of DNAs derived from particular mitotic chromosome bands).
Hans Lehrach (Imperial Cancer Research Fund Laboratory, United Kingdom) reported progress in methods employed for characterizing clones by oligonucleotide probing. This methodology will contribute to ordering a library with a sixfold cosmid coverage of chromosome X.
In addition to research results, participants in the workshops also discussed sharing genetic resources and information.
Reported by Marvin Stodolsky
DOE OHER Human Genome Program
The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v1n3).
The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international 13-year effort, 1990 to 2003. Primary goals were to discover the complete set of human genes and make them accessible for further biological study, and determine the complete sequence of DNA bases in the human genome. See Timeline for more HGP history.
Published from 1989 until 2002, this newsletter facilitated HGP communication, helped prevent duplication of research effort, and informed persons interested in genome research.