GNN - Genetics and Genomics Timeline

Celera Genomics' plan to complete sequencing the human genome by 2001 prompted the international Human Genome Project (HGP) to speed its own efforts and revise its original deadline of 2005. By the millennial year 2000, competition made the goal a moving target. On June 26, 2000, the two groups made a joint announcement at the White House in the United States, during a major news event to mark an historic milestone.

J. Craig Venter (Celera Genomics), President Clinton and Francis Collins (NIH) making the historic announcement on June 26, 2000.
Courtesy Marty Katz

Celera Genomics announced the first complete assembly of the human genome. Using whole genome shotgun sequencing, Celera began sequencing in September 1999 and finished in December. Assembly of the 3.12 billion base pairs of DNA, over the next six months, required some 500 million trillion sequence comparisons, and represented the most extensive computation ever undertaken in biology.

The Human Genome Project reported it had finished a "working draft" of the genome, stating that the project had fully sequenced 85 percent of the genome. Five major institutions in the United States and Great Britain performed the bulk of sequencing, together with contributions from institutes in China, France, and Germany.

The research emphasis would now shift from sequencing the genome to annotating the genome, with the goal of discovering a wealth of information about the way in which genes and families of genes function and sometimes malfunction. The role of variation in individual genes—known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)—would now become a new frontier of investigation.

The sequenced human genome signaled the appearance of a long-awaited future for biology and medicine. Genomics showed that DNA is a readable text today that could change the world tomorrow.

For current news visit GNN’s Human Genome Page.

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