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

Leg 195: seafloor observatories and the history of the Kuroshio Current

Leg 195 had three distinct objectives. The first was to install a long-term geochemical observatory at a cold vent in the throat of South Chamorro Seamount, an active serpentine mud volcano in the Mariana forearc which is bringing fluids, mud, metamorphic rocks and mantle xenoliths to the seafoor from the decollement 25 km below. The second was to install a state-of-the-art borehole seismic observatory almost 600 m below the seafloor in the middle of the Philippine plate to fill an important gap in the International Ocean Network (ION) net. The third was a contingency objective. If time allowed, piston cores were to be obtained at a shallow water site under the Kuroshio Current in order to study climate change in east Asia over the past 1.5 my