The Genome of Sitting Bull
23/08/10 14:21 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Submitted by S. Pelech - Kinexus on Mon, 08/23/2010 - 14:21.
One has to really wonder about the merits and logic of sequencing the genomes of long dead celebrities at this time. Even with thousand dollar whole genome sequencing rapidly becoming available, it's hard to see the real value of such an exercise with the limited understanding that we presently hold about what the individual variations in DNA sequence data really mean.
Not that long ago, government- and charity-funded agencies expended tens to hundreds of million dollars per organism to sequence some of the first genomes from eukaryotes. Interestingly, despite the public investment, some of these genomes are still not fully sequenced or accessible. Had granting agencies focused their resources on better analysis of the gene products of the early genomes rather than supporting an ongoing gene sequencing frenzy, we would probably have a much better understanding of the human genome and proteome today. Moreover, all of those other genomes could have still be sequenced at a later date at a fraction of the price.
I am now reading about projects involving the sequencing of hundreds of thousands of genomes. At $1000 per genome, that's hundreds of millions of dollars. We should step back and reconsider whether we are spending limited research resources in the most prudent manner at a time when the global economy is suffering and together with environmental disaster will severely adversely affect human health.
Link to the original blog post.
One has to really wonder about the merits and logic of sequencing the genomes of long dead celebrities at this time. Even with thousand dollar whole genome sequencing rapidly becoming available, it's hard to see the real value of such an exercise with the limited understanding that we presently hold about what the individual variations in DNA sequence data really mean.
Not that long ago, government- and charity-funded agencies expended tens to hundreds of million dollars per organism to sequence some of the first genomes from eukaryotes. Interestingly, despite the public investment, some of these genomes are still not fully sequenced or accessible. Had granting agencies focused their resources on better analysis of the gene products of the early genomes rather than supporting an ongoing gene sequencing frenzy, we would probably have a much better understanding of the human genome and proteome today. Moreover, all of those other genomes could have still be sequenced at a later date at a fraction of the price.
I am now reading about projects involving the sequencing of hundreds of thousands of genomes. At $1000 per genome, that's hundreds of millions of dollars. We should step back and reconsider whether we are spending limited research resources in the most prudent manner at a time when the global economy is suffering and together with environmental disaster will severely adversely affect human health.
Link to the original blog post.