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Human Genome News, September 1992; 4(3)
Administrators and investigators from the NIH and DOE genome programs held their annual meeting with genome research center directors and others on June 22-23 in Bethesda, Maryland, to evaluate progress toward the 5-year goals of the U.S. Human Genome Project. (See 5-Year Goals.) The meeting focused on the implications of rapidly changing technology and several recent developments in physical mapping.
Directors of NIH- and DOE-supported centers reported that physical mapping of large chromosomal regions and the development of new tools and increased automation are progressing well.
The group discussed the large-insert yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) library recently developed by Daniel Cohen and colleagues at Genethon and the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH). Because the particularly large clones in this YAC set represent the entire human genome, the library promises to aid completion of the map of overlapping human clones. U.S. and French investigators are eager to collaborate in using the YAC technology to build chromosome maps.
The availability of such YACs and other improvements in physical mapping techniques encouraged discussion about genome-wide versus single-chromosome-based approaches to completing the physical map; participants concluded that both avenues are valuable and cited the continued need for better cloning methodology to close single-chromosome gaps smaller than 200 kb. Attendees suggested holding a workshop to assess YAC-associated technical problems related mainly to chimeras (YACs containing DNA from two different locations) and other large-fragment cloning systems.
Other topics included the experiences of different centers in using automation and robotics for mapping projects. Attendees agreed on the need for (1) improved communication among centers to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and (2) increased outreach and education about the accumulation of mapping data and materials and the usefulness of such resources to nongenome researchers.
Reported by Leslie Fink, NIH NCHGR and Daniel Drell, DOE OHER
The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v4n3).
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.
