Set it's aim in 1990 to determine the whole human genome sequence.
DNA from a few individuals, taken from a pool of 100 volunteer, was used.
Laboratories around the world contributed to the project.
In 2004, the completed human genome sequence was published.
Sequencing, as described above, requires sections of DNA to be sequenced between 6 and 10 times in order to be confident that the base sequence information is accurate.
Each contribute laboratory worked on different parts of the genome, sharing their sequence information with others to build the whole sequence.
Probably the most fascinating fact is that at the outset, scientists expected to find around 100,000 coding genes on the genome.
By 2004 the estimate was that humans only have around 25,000-not many more than a worm.
It seems now that human complexity has far more to do with regulation of gene expression than with the number of genes.
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