Human Genome Will Be Defined by Spring 2000, HGP Scientists Confirm

HINXTON, UK--With one quarter of the human genome in the public domain, scientists have confirmed that they are on schedule to produce the first draft of the entire genome by spring 2000, according to the Human Genome Project scientists who gathered for the Fifth International Strategy Meeting on Human Genome Sequencing here at the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus. The project's international consortium stated that it jointly has enough sequencing capacity to provide a working draft of 90 percent of the euchromatic or gene rich part of the human genome by spring 2000. To date, 739 million base pairs, or roughly one quarter of the human genome, have been deposited in GenBank in finished or near finished form. The sequences of several individual chromosomes are nearing completion, and the first of these likely will be announced before the end of the year.