[00:05.77]A private American company says it has identified all the chemical pieces in the genetic material that shapes human life.
[00:17.82]Celera Genomics Group says it has identified and named all the genetic parts of the material inside the nucleus of the cell of a human being.
[00:30.98]And,the company says it probably will succeed in placing the chemicals exactly as they appear in the human cells in a few weeks.
[00:41.74]Finishing this process would be an extremely important discovery.
[00:48.07]It would describe a person's complete genetic structure.
[00:52.98]This structure depends on more than 3,000,000,000 chemical pieces chained together.
[01:01.18]This chain decides a person's physical appearance, such as hair color and eye color and height.
[01:10.22]The genetic structure also may make a person more likely to suffer diseases like diabetes or some kinds of cancer.
[01:20.56]Completion of the human genetic map will permit scientists to study the mysteries of human health and disease.
[01:30.38]The discovery is expected to change the way some diseases are treated.
[01:37.31]It would help doctors develop new treatments that fight disease on the level of cells and genes.
[01:45.74]Celera is competing with a government-led group of scientists to be first to complete the human genome project.
[01:55.36]Francis Collins heads the other group of scientists.
[01:59.72]Their work is being led by the National Institutes of Health.
[02:04.68]Doctor Collins says he does not believe Celera has succeeded in completing the human genetic map.
[02:14.14]Doctor Collins says he believes it will take several more years to do this.
[02:21.40]He says his group has finished about 90% of the genetic work and will announce early results by the end of June.
[02:31.95]The government-led scientists have shared their research results on the Internet computer system.
[02:40.24]Earlier, experts had criticized Celera Genomics for wanting property rights to information provided by the government group,
[02:50.84]However, Celera now says it will put most of its information on the Internet when its studies are completed. |