The main disagreement between the groups was over whether Celera intends to keep its research private, and the company's plans to patent a few hundred genes. Venter has said the company will make the information public when the map is complete. The HGP posts all of its data every 24 hours on a public site called GenBank . Celera announced in April that it had completed the sequencing phase of the genome map, and that it would finish assembling the map in the next four to six weeks, adding to speculation that the accomplishment would be announced at the conference this week. The human genome contains up to 100,000 genes, as well as the genetic material in the body's chromosomes.
Genes carry the information required for the body's processes and structure.
Once the fragments are pieced together, researchers plan to use the information for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Kowalski said Venter will discuss Celera's map of the Drosophila , or fruit fly, genome, which promises to give scientists important insight into human genetic function. Send it . Use this version. E-mail this to a friend.