Impact of human genome project on medical practice.

ABSTRACT

The sequence of bases on all 23 pairs of human chromosomes has been nearly unravelled. Nearly 3.1 billion nucleotide bases were sequenced using the clone based approach of Human Genome Project Consortium and the shotgun approach of Celera. There appear to be about 30,000 genes, which are however more complex. Human genes seem to have been transferred over evolution from bacteria. Further progress is likely in identifying genes and their function, in development of DNA chips or arrays to identify genes, expanded field of protomics or the study of detailed structure and function of proteins. Pharmacogenomics is possible to develop designer drugs depending on the individuals genetic make-up. Projected drawbacks from availability of genetic data of individuals include loss of privacy, genetic determinism and the risk of high insurance premia, conflict about patenting and ownership.