Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

New flaviviruses in the kokobera virus group

Kokobera virus (KOKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that has been isolated from mosquitoes throughout Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) (Mackenzie et al. 1994). It was originally isolated from Culex annulirostris Skuse mosquitoes collected at Kowanyama (Mitchell River Mission) in north Queensland in 1960 and was named after a local Aboriginal tribe (Doherty et aJ. 1963). Since that time, KOKV has been isolated from mosquitoes collected in Western Australia, Northern Territory, New South Wales and Queensland (Russell 1998). Serological evidence suggests that macropods (kangaroos and wallabies) and horses may be\ud reservoir hosts of KOKV (Doherty et al. 1964, Doherty et al. 1971). Human infections with KOKV occasionally result in an acute polyarticular disease (Doherty et al. 1964, Hawkes et al. 1985, Hawkes et al. 1993, Boughton et al. 1986)

Identification of new flaviviruses in the Kokobera virus complex

Novel flavivirus isolates from mosquitoes collected in northern Australia were analysed by partial genomic sequencing, monoclonal antibody-binding assays and polyclonal cross-neutralization tests. Two isolates were found to be antigenically distinct from, but related to, viruses of the Kokobera virus complex, which currently contains Kokobera (KOKV) and Stratford (STRV) viruses. Nucleotide sequence comparison of two separate regions of the genome revealed that an isolate from Saibai Island in the Torres Strait in 2000 (TS5273) was related closely to KOKV and STRV, with 74-80 and 75-76% nucleotide similarity, respectively. An isolate from mainland Cape York in 1998 (CY1014) was found to be more divergent from KOKV and STRV, wit

Social Capital and the Growth of the Nonprofit Sector

This article examines the extent to which nonprofit organizational foundings are determined by various forms of social capital. Our hypothesis is that, controlling for other relevant social, political, and economic factors, communities with higher levels of social capital should experience more extensive growth in their nonprofit sectors. Copyright (c) 2005 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.