- The ARC - California Edition -

The First Unraveling
Chromosome Number 22

In December of the year of 1999, a team of genetic researchers published evidence which indicates that they have successfully decoded an entire human chromosome. This is the first time that the genetic makeup of a complete human chromosome has been decoded. The chromosome, previously identified as number 22, is one of the smaller chromosomes of the 23 chromosomes within the human DNA. 

This achievement is considered as a major scientific success since the chemical components which make up the chromosome 22 are coded using over 33 million “letters”. Chromosome 22 turned out to contain 545 genes and almost 300 of them had never been known to science until now. 

This feat is the result of documenting the “sequences” that make up the longest, continuous stretch of DNA ever deciphered and assembled. Previously other smaller genome models have been generated. All of the chromosomes of the fruitfly genome – about one tenth the size of the human genome – have almost been completed by a commercial venture using a less accurate method known as the random-shotgun method. 

The team of genetic sleuths that did the work likened their work to “opening the first chapter of the book of life”. It certainly has to be a monumental step in gaining an understanding of human biology. This is especially true when it comes to disease. 

But genes are more than diseases. They establish the color or the eyes, the color of the hair and is the internal control system that makes us different from one another, and from other mammals. 

“ Genes are us and it has a lot to do with our health as well,” according to Dr. Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health. With one chromosome done, the work to decode the entire human genome is expected to progress much faster. 

The Human Genome Project is a $3 billion International effort to decode all 23 of the human chromosomes defining details connected with the tens of thousands of human genes.