Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Originally published in Science Express on 15 March 2005
Science 15 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5720, pp. 362 - 364
DOI: 10.1126/science.1111655

Perspectives

GENETICS:
Was the Human Genome Project Worth the Effort?

Stephen P. Daiger

The Human Genome Project is much more than the genetic map of our species. It is also a powerful set of integrated tools for solving problems in medicine and biology. Application of these tools to a common cause of human blindness, age-related macular degeneration, implicates a common variant in the gene encoding complement factor H as a major contributor to the risk of developing this disease (Klein et al., Haines et al., Edwards et al.). The new findings raise hopes for better diagnosis and treatment of macular degeneration and further validate the importance of the Human Genome Project


The author is at the Human Genetics Center, the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA. E-mail: stephen.p.daiger{at}uth.tmc.edu

Read the Full Text



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Tilting at Quixotic Trait Loci (QTL): An Evolutionary Perspective on Genetic Causation.
K. M. Weiss (2008)
Genetics 179, 1741-1756
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ancestral LOXL1 variants are associated with pseudoexfoliation in Caucasian Australians but with markedly lower penetrance than in Nordic people.
A. W. Hewitt, S. Sharma, K. P. Burdon, J. J. Wang, P. N. Baird, D. P. Dimasi, D. A. Mackey, P. Mitchell, and J. E. Craig (2008)
Hum. Mol. Genet. 17, 710-716
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A forest-based approach to identifying gene and gene gene interactions.
X. Chen, C.-T. Liu, M. Zhang, and H. Zhang (2007)
PNAS 104, 19199-19203
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Commentary: The Human Genome: philosopher's stone or magic wand?.
R. C Millikan (2006)
Int. J. Epidemiol. 35, 578-581
   Full Text »    PDF »
Disease mechanisms in late-onset retinal macular degeneration associated with mutation in C1QTNF5.
X. Shu, B. Tulloch, A. Lennon, D. Vlachantoni, X. Zhou, C. Hayward, and A. F. Wright (2006)
Hum. Mol. Genet. 15, 1680-1689
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nutritional supplements for macular degeneration.
(2006)
DTB 44, 9-11
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sorsby's fundus dystrophy mutations impair turnover of TIMP-3 by retinal pigment epithelial cells.
K. P. Langton, N. McKie, B. M. Smith, N. J. Brown, and M. D. Barker (2005)
Hum. Mol. Genet. 14, 3579-3586
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence for an inflammatory process in age-related macular degeneration gains new support.
D. Bok (2005)
PNAS 102, 7053-7054
   Full Text »    PDF »



ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products


Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)