One of the students of biology class has some confusion on some points

1.	One of the students of biology class has some confusion on some points of the 'Human Genome Project'. Can you explain ? (i) Why was the Human Genome Project called a mega project ? (ii) What are its main goals ?
Answer» (i) (a) It aimed at sequencing 3 billion bases that make up human DNA. (b) It involved the identification of all genes in human DNA. (c) The cost of the project was estimated to be approx. 9 billion US dollars which is a huge cost for the project. (d) Enormous amount of data were expected to generate. It is therefore the HGP was called the mega project (ii) Goals are : (a) To identify the 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA. (b) To store all the information in databases. (c) To develop the computer based analysis of the data obtained (d) To improve the tools for data analysis. (e) To transfer the technologies to other sectors. (f) To find out the solution of the ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.

One of the students of biology class has some confusion on some points of the 'Human Genome Project'. Can you explain ? (i) Why was the Human Genome Project called a mega project ? (ii) What are its main goals ?

Answer»

(i) (a) It aimed at sequencing 3 billion bases that make up human DNA.

(b) It involved the identification of all genes in human DNA.

(d) Enormous amount of data were expected to generate.

It is therefore the HGP was called the mega project

(ii) Goals are :

(a) To identify the 20,000-25,000 genes in human DNA.

(b) To store all the information in databases.

(d) To improve the tools for data analysis.

(e) To transfer the technologies to other sectors.

(f) To find out the solution of the ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project.