The Human Genome Project has so far identified the roughly 3 billion nucleotides, or building blocks, of DNA present in each cell of the human body. These nucleotides carry the instructions for human life and function. The human genome sequence is just the beginning of what researchers want to learn. Researchers now want to decode more about the structure and function of human DNA and its role in the function of the heart, lungs, and blood. In order to reach that goal, researchers want to know how your DNA differs from someone else's.
People basically have the same sequence.
However, there are small differences. Dr. Leonid Kruglyak and his group at the Hutchinson's Human Biology Division play a key role in the new project and will help to determine which of the hundreds of SNPs are important for further testing of the potential links between disease susceptibility and resistance, and common human diseases, Nickerson said. We already know that genetic differences help determine such characteristics as height and eye color. And we know that rare inherited differences can cause diseases like Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia. What's not known is how more commonly inherited differences might be involved in the development of more common problems such as heart disease, asthma, emphysema or high blood pressure.