USA: WORLD WIDE CONSORTIUM OF SCIENTISTS ANNOUNCE THEY HAVE SUCCESSFULLY MAPPED THE MOUSE GENOME

Record ID: 645655

  • Title: USA: WORLD WIDE CONSORTIUM OF SCIENTISTS ANNOUNCE THEY HAVE SUCCESSFULLY MAPPED THE MOUSE GENOME
  • Date: 7th December 2002
  • Summary: (U7) WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 4, 2002) (REUTERS) SIDE VIEW OF DR. ERIC LANDER, AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. ERIC LANDER, WHITEHEAD INSTITUTE, M.I.T. CENTER FOR GENOME RESEARCH SAYING "We have for the first time a Rosetta stone with which to help read the human genome, to see essentially the same messages written in two slightly different texts, and by comparing them, pick out meaning."
  • Embargoed: 22nd December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, AND BAR HARBOR, MAINE, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6C1H4JUCFV5H5VBK5245UXRNK
  • Story Text: A world-wide consortium of scientists has announced they have successfully mapped the mouse genome, a finding that one researcher called the genetic equivalent of the Rosetta Stone which could shed light on a range of human diseases.
    The Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium, a team of scientists from the United States, Britain, Japan and elsewhere, published the genome, or complete list of coded instructions to make a mouse, in the latest issue of the journal Nature.
    The researchers hope that by comparing mouse DNA to human DNA, they will not only find out what makes us uniquely human -- but find ways to transform medicine and cure human disease.
    "Today, we celebrate a major landmark in biology and medicine," Dr. Francis Collins, of the National Human Genome Research Institute, told a news conference Washington, D.C.
    "Having the genome of the mouse not only sheds new and wondrous light on this familiar furry animal but it powerfully illuminates that other mammal we know best and for which we have the highest hopes - ourselves," Collins said.
    It is regarded as the most important scientific breakthroughs since the sequencing of the human genome nearly two years ago, and Dr. Eric Lander of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says it could put the gene sequence of humans in perspective.
    "We have for the first time a Rosetta stone with which to help read the human genome, to see essentially the same message written in slightly different texts, and by comparing them, pick out meaning."
    Just as the Rosetta stone allowed Egyptologists to finally decipher hieroglyphics by carrying the same text in three languages, reading multiple genetic codes will help geneticists to find the meaning in human DNA.
    Both mice and humans share a common ancestor who lived 75 million years ago, the researchers said. The mouse genome sequence reveals that both humans and mice both have about 30,000 genes and share the bulk of them. 90 percent of genes linked to diseases in humans are similar to those in mice.
    Why map the genome of the ordinary mouse? Researchers will begin mapping the genome of the dog soon, Dr. Collins said, but "it's the laboratory mouse that is the medical researcher's best friend."
    For decades the mouse has been the workhouse of the scientific laboratory, and researchers know more about its genetic makeup than they do about humans.
    "This is the most widely-used animal model for studies of disease. It is researched in hundreds of laboratories around the world and has been for decades and it already has provided a treasure trove of information about mammalian biology and the genetic and environmental influences that result in illnesses," Collins said.
    With Wednesday's announcement, Collins said, "We can imagine this mouse being able to do much, much more to assist our understanding of the causes and cures of disease."
    Researchers are now laying down the human and mouse genetic codes side by side to see the similarities and differences. Side by side comparisons have already identified 1,200 new human genes and 9,000 new mouse genes. There are only 300 genes unique to either organism, proving that the mouse is the ideal model to study human diseases and to test new treatments.
    Scientists have already been using the mouse genome, which is freely available on the internet, to search for genes linked to diseases such as Down's Syndrome, diabetes and schizophrenia.
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