WHAT is your history? What鈥檚 your fate? And just how much of each of these is
written in your genes? The announcement in June that researchers have recorded
the entire human genome takes us a long way towards answering these questions.
Now we know the 3 billion or so coded letters that dictate much of how each of
us lives, and ultimately how we may die.
Though the timing of the announcement has its arbitrary side鈥攕cientists
were, after all, only claiming a 鈥渞ough draft鈥�, with many holes left to be
filled鈥擬onday 26 June 2000 marked a turning point in biology and medicine.
The genome revolution has begun, and nothing will ever be the same.
In the articles that follow, we explore some of the ways that this revolution
will change all our lives. First we describe how, in labs and hospitals around
the world, the changes have already begun (鈥淟and of opportunity鈥�). Then
we present three key thrusts of post-genome research. There鈥檚 the race to
unravel the code and discover what genes are buried in the letters of the DNA
(鈥淓nigma variations鈥�). There are the myriad attempts to discover how
the proteins that are created according to DNA鈥檚 blueprint ultimately do the
cell鈥檚 business (鈥淗igh in protein鈥�). And in 鈥淐lose cousins鈥�
we look at how the tiny variations in DNA that give each of us our individuality
could also be the key to curing a host of diseases.
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Finally, we show how these approaches taken together should soon yield a cure
for the ultimate genetic disease鈥攃ancer, in all its guises (鈥淜now your enemy鈥�).
The challenges for the genome revolutionaries are formidable, but the gains
will be extraordinary. Now that the first flush of this summer鈥檚 triumph is
receding, this is where the fun really starts.