Duality in the human genome
Monday, December 1, 2014 - 13:40
in Biology & Nature
Human genomes are extraordinarily individual -- a challenge for personalized medicine. Results of a new study show that most genes can occur in many different forms within a population: On average, about 250 different forms of each gene exist. The researchers found around four million different gene forms just in the 400 or so genomes they analysed. This enormous diversity means that over half of all genes in an individual, around 9,000 of 17,500, occur uniquely in that one person -- and are therefore individual in the truest sense of the word.