Researchers claim to have sequenced 90 percent of the human genome -- the collection of human genetic material -- and said they thought this covered 97 percent of all the human genes.
Celera Genomics of Rockville, Maryland said it expected to be finished with its sequencing later this year -- years ahead of a similar project being undertaken by academic and government scientists in the United States and Europe.
It uses banks of computers and a "shotgun" technique to piece together the sequences that make up the double helix of DNA. The sequencing stage just spells out the DNA patterns and does not show where genes begin or end, or what they do.
"The whole genome shotgun technique focuses on sequencing the entire genome at once, allowing for real-time discovery of human genes across the entire genome," J. Craig Venter, president and chief scientific officer of Celera, said in a statement.
"The early phase of sequencing the human genome using the whole genome shotgun process is especially important for gene discovery. We are rapidly coming to an end of that phase. Our statistical analysis and comparison to known genes suggest that greater than 97 percent of all human genes are represented in our database."
The shotgun technique involves randomly chopping up DNA and then assembling it back together like a puzzle. Rival scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) in Maryland and the Sanger Centre in Cambridge, Britain, among other places, are using a more laborious and precise technique to map out the 100,000 or so human genes.
Celera said its scientists had identified "several thousand" new genes that may play key roles in communication between cells and the regulation of functions such as blood pressure, cell growth, and neurotransmission.
Some experts have expressed fears that companies such as Celera will patent many genes, thus restricting research. But Venter has said his company will patent only a few hundred genes and will post most of the sequences publicly
