Scientists map out remaining genetic code called HapMap

Scientists map out remaining genetic code called HapMap
A genetic map that charts out the differences in human traits that can tell how an individual will respond to various drugs has been drawn up for the first time. This technique has the potential to customize the treatment for chronic diseases like hypertension, cancer, asthma and diabetes.

The International Haplotype Map, or HapMap as it has been dubbed allows scientists to develop a comprehensive chart of inherited traits thereby simplifying the process of variations that affect the outcome of certain diseases rapidly. The Human Genome Project has already sequenced 99.9 percent of DNA that is common to all human beings. The HapMap will fill up the remaining 0.1 percent.

It is this tiny quantity that determines how an individual responds to treatment with various drugs. Peter Donnelly, Professor of Statistical Science at Oxford University and one of the project's leaders said that the Human Genome Project provided a comprehensive list of the parts that make up human beings, “The HapMap provides us with indicators — like Post-It notes — which we can focus on in looking for genes involved in common disease.

Sponsors

This report describes a remarkable step in our journey to understand human biology and disease,” he said. The full first draft of the HapMap is published for the first time today in the journal Nature, but the abstract of these sets have already provided valuable input for genetic researchers in understanding health issues.

The HapMap project comprises scientists from Britain, the US, Canada, China, Japan and Nigeria and is estimated to cost around £80 million. The project has mapped out single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to explain the different characteristics in human beings. "People around the world are using these markers to do genetic association studies to understand the molecular basis of common diseases," said Dr Panos Deloukas of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute said.