New Resource for Understanding Human Gene Function

Summary

The completion of the human genome sequence gave us a putative parts list of all human genes, the instructions for making proteins, the principle structural and functional molecules of life. With the completion of the human DNA sequence, a massive international effort (partially funded by the DOE Human Genome Program) was begun in August 2002 to annotate (characterize or describe) these putative genes. Over 41,000 full length DNA copies, so-called cDNAs, of the messenger RNA molecules that are the intermediate information molecules between a DNA sequence and the production of a protein were analyzed. This Full Length cDNA Annotation Jamboree involved over 100 biologists and computer scientists was initially hosted by the Japan Bioinformatics Research Center in Tokyo and has continued for the past two years. The results will be made publicly available online. This effort was coordinated by the Integrated Molecular Analysis of Genome Expression (IMAGE) consortium, a project initiated by the DOE Human Genome Program and now funded by the National Institutes of Health. This remarkable new resource will speed discovery and understanding of human genes for both disease and normal physiologic function.