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IN ITS BRIEF life span, the Human Genome Project has established a track record that many commercial industries might envy.
After 4 years, the ambitious international effort to map the estimated 100 000 genes in the human body is ahead of schedule and under budget. "We now have a very good human genetic map," says Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Center for Human Genome Research (NCHGR), Bethesda, Md.
The project isn't scheduled for completion until 2005. But Collins says one interim goal has been surpassed. A genetic linkage map with an average spacing of 2 to 5 centimorgans between user-friendly, highly polymorphic markers wasn't expected until the end of 1995. Not only have scientists constructing the map beat the deadline, Collins says the quality of their product is better than expected. "It's fivefold better in the density of the markers."
Genetic linkage maps show the relative positions
Voelker R. Ambition Fuels Human Genome Research. JAMA. 1994;272(18):1394. doi:10.1001/jama.1994.03520180018007