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

High-resolution network biology: connecting sequence with function

Proteins are not monolithic entities; rather, they can contain multiple domains that mediate distinct interactions, and their functionality can be regulated through post-translational modifications at multiple distinct sites. Traditionally, network biology has ignored such properties of proteins and has instead examined either the physical interactions of whole proteins or the consequences of removing entire genes. In this Review, we discuss experimental and computational methods to increase the resolution of protein– protein, genetic and drug–gene interaction studies to the domain and residue levels. Such work will be crucial for using interaction networks to connect sequence and structural information, and to understand the biological consequences of disease-associated mutations, which will hopefully lead to more effective therapeutic strategies