It evolved in the mid-1980s from consensus among a number of leading U.S. molecular biologists that such an undertaking would be a powerful tool to understand disease and biology. In the years following its formal launch in 1990, the Human Genome Project became a central enterprise in human genetics and the largest centrally coordinated biology research project ever undertaken. Yet its genesis was one of the most politically contentious episodes in the recent history of science policy. The genome's structure is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46 - with each pair consisting of one chromosome from each parent. Each chromosome in turn carries thousands of genes that provide instructions to the cell on how to make a particular molecule, usually a protein.
Proteins are the essential components of all organs and chemical activities in the body.
Ts, Gs, and Cs - and the proteins to ingredients. The simplicity of this image, however, belies the enormity and complexity of the structure and functioning of the human genome. The genes, however, are estimated to represent only about three percent of the entire genome. If a gene's DNA language becomes gnarled or a word is misspelled, the cell may make the wrong protein, or too much or too little of the right one - mistakes that often result in disease. Errors in genes are responsible for thousands of clearly hereditary diseases, including Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and many others.