Fine-tuned map of human genome offers fresh clues about disease

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2007

PARIS (AFP) — Scientists on Wednesday released the finest-detailed map yet of variants in the human genetic code, declaring it should help unlock inherited causes of disease and reveal secrets of evolution.

The "second generation" blueprint of human genetic variation, published in the British journal Nature, unveils minute differences in the genome of 270 people, from Nigeria and Utah to China and Japan.

Individuals are more than 99 percent the same at the genetic level.

Understanding the tiny fraction of material that varies can highlight vulnerability to disease, response to pharmaceutical drugs and reaction to environmental triggers such as ozone pollution and pollen.

These variants are usually inherited as small blocks of genetic code, called...