J. Craig has officially released a full analysis of his genome, the first ever of a diploid human. Today's PLoS Biology paper reveals that there is much more variation in his genome than previously thought, especially in non-SNP alterations. The paper reports that non-SNP DNA variation accounts for 22 percent of all events identified in the donor, and involve 74 percent of all variant bases. (Hey, we always knew he was different.) The New York Times reports that "Dr. Venter's genome could be the gold standard for many years, especially if he continues to improve it," and a handful of positive comments have been collected at the Eye on DNA blog.
"With this publication we have shown that human-to-human variation is five- to seven-fold greater than earlier estimates, proving that we are in fact more unique at the individual genetic level than we thought," Venter says in one of the quotes. "We don't need to fear our genetic codes. They are not life or death sentences."