The Human Genome Project

The completion of the Human Genome Project has led to a surge in the use of genomic and related technologies for identification of markers for early detection and molecular-targeted treatments of variety of diseases. The number of defined human genes continues to grow and new tools are being developed for interrogation of databases holding the genomic information. High-throughput screening techniques are now widely available allowing investigators to rapidly screen and confirm new genes, mRNA transcripts, and proteins. The eukaryotic complexity involves the expression and regulation of genes via RNA-DNA, RNA-RNA, DNA-protein and RNA-protein interactions. In addition to completion of human genome in the past decade, many genomes of other species have been sequenced and/or are in progress. The accumulation of this knowledge is expected to revolutionize the way medicine is practiced today. Recently, the role of RNA molecules in the regulation of genes in higher organisms has become more evident, especially with the discovery that about 97% of the transcriptional output in higher organisms are represented as noncoding RNAs: rRNA, snoRNAs, tRNA, transposable elements, 5ʹ and 3ʹ untranslated regions, introns, intergenic regions and microRNAs. MicroRNAs function by negatively regulating gene expression via degradation or translational inhibition of their target mRNAs and thus participate in a wide variety of physiological and pathological cellular processes including: development, cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis pathways. Recent reports have revealed that the expression profiles of microRNAs change in various human diseases and this information was mainly derived from the completion of human genome. In the past decade, as the human genome has been completed, the knowledge from this sequence has begun to influence the fields of biological and social sciences in fundamental ways. Although identification of about 25000 genes in the human genome is expected to create great benefits in diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the coming years; However, Genetic technologies have also created many interesting and difficult ethical issues which can affect the human societies now and in the future. Application of genetic technologies in the areas of stem cells, cloning, gene therapy, genetic manipulation, gene selection, sex selection and preimplantation diagnosis has created a great potential for the human race to influence and change human life on earth as we know it today. Therefore, it is important for leaders of societies in the modern world to pay attention to the advances in genetic technologies and prepare themselves and those institutions under their command to face the challenges which these new technologies bring in the areas of ethics, law and social policies.