Estimate for Number of Human Genes Slashed (less than a mustard plant!)

[papau]

As reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature by the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium:


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=3&u=/ap/20041022/ap_on_sc/how_many_genes

Estimate for Number of Human Genes Slashed (less than a mustard plant!)

Thu Oct 21, 9:31 PM ET Science - AP


By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer

NEW YORK - In a blow to human vanity, researchers now say that people have about the same number of genes as a small flowering plant or a tiny worm. The new estimate is down sharply from just three years ago. <snip>

The new estimate is 20,000 to 25,000 genes (that tell cells how to make proteins), a drop from the 30,000 to 40,000 the same group of scientists published in 2001.

By comparison, C. elegans, a worm that is a favorite research subject, has around 19,500 genes. Another lab favorite, a plant in the mustard family called Arabidopsis, has about 27,000. <snip>

In comparison to simpler organisms, Collins said, humans benefit more from genes that turn out multiple proteins rather than one, and from complex proteins that do more than one job. And anyway, lots of biological complexity is based not on individual proteins but on combinations, which can create lots of variety from the proteins found in people, he said. <snip>