Human Genome Project (HGP)

The Human Genome Project (HGP) aimed to identify the nucleotide sequence and physically, as well as, functionally map all of the human genes. This international feat is the largest collaborative biological research ever attempted. This project was launched in 1990 and completed in 2003. With the HGP, diseases are better understood, hence, medication may be better designed. The three major findings specified that humans have 22,300 protein-coding genes, there are more segmental duplications than expected, and fewer than 7% of protein families were vertebrate specific. Moreover, the program was also able to identify the genomes of other organisms such as the roundworm, fruit fly, and brewer’s yeast.