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Editorial Will the genome map help us discover ourselves?

Last week was filled with three milestones for science and technology.

NASA scored two historic firsts: one when astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis successfully attached the command and laboratory module Destiny to the international space station, making it the world’s largest orbital spacecraft; and again when the agency’s scientists landed an unmanned probe on the asteroid Eros, the first time an Earth craft ever landed on such a cosmic body.

The grandest news, however, was without a doubt the double announcement that both private and publicly funded researchers had successfully completed mapping the human genome, the genetic foundation of our lives.

It has long been believed that mapping human genes would lead researchers to an El Dorado of new treatments and medicines for illness. Indeed, many genetic treatments for several illnesses have already been discovered.

For 10 years, researchers with the publicly funded International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium pursued the secrets of the genome, expecting to find as many as 100,000 separate human genes. The privately funded Celera Genomics Group set out on its quest three years ago. Together, they believe they have completed mapping the genome, and simultaneously published their results last week.

But completion of the project doesn’t mean there will be a rash of new genetically based cures on the market soon. The published research created more questions than it answered.

For instance, the research shows there are only about 30,000 genes in the human genome instead of 100,000 (the two research groups differ on the exact count). That’s only twice as many genes as found in a worm’s genome. Further, the vast majority of our genes are shared by other species; for instance, only about 300 genes stand between a common mouse and a human being.

Lying ahead for medical researchers now is understanding how so relatively few genes can be responsible for so many illnesses. Scientists know genes produce proteins, and that problems in the production of these proteins can cause some illnesses.

Because there are at least 100,000 proteins produced by our cells, scientists expected to find a corresponding number of genes , in other words, one gene for each protein. Scientists reasoned if they found the gene for a particular protein, they might be able to genetically fix the problem creating an illness.

Mapping the genome, however, now shows there are far fewer genes than proteins, meaning each gene must be responsible for producing more than one protein. Identifying which gene produces which proteins is the next obstacle drug researchers must hurdle.

While the pharmaceutical companies pursue the elusive protein, the findings of the genome-mappers is fueling more debate between the scientific community of pro-evolutionists and the theological community of pro-Creationists.

On first glance, the fact humans share so many genes with other species seems to support the Darwinian theory that all life evolved from some one-cell creature millions of years ago. On the other hand, how so few differing genes can account for the wide varieties and complexities of life on Earth without the hand of a divine Creator has even scientists baffled.

“We are profoundly humbled to be the first to read from these pages, written in the language of God,” said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the U.S. national Human Genome Research Institute.

The questions raised by this research as to how life began echoes similar debates raised by astronomers attempting to trace the origins of the universe back to the moment of the Big Bang and before. The deeper they peer into the vastness of space, many say, the closer they feel to God.

The map of the human genome was expected to lead to new treasures for business and science. Perhaps, instead, it will help us discover ourselves.

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