But the chiefs of both teams warn that there is a long way to go - even if there are only 26,000 genes to examine. It is a very basic set of instructions and we have got to learn how our growing bodies interpret these instructions to make a human being. Hundreds of genes have been smuggled into the human chromosomes by bacteria. Humans have only twice as many genes as a simple worm or a fly. There is no scientific basis for race.
Genes are more than just simple commands for making single proteins.
Most mutations occur in males. And the male Y chromosome is very small. The 30,000 or so genes in 23 chromosomes could make 250,000 proteins available to the 100 million million cells in any adult human. These include a type of blindness and liver failure. Scientists found that chickens barely have enough immune system genes to keep them alive.