Craig Venter, the controversial leader of Celera Genomics鈥� project to decode the human genome, has announced that the DNA his company used was largely his own.
Both Celera and the publicly-funded Human Genome Project consortium released first drafts of the human genome in June 2000. At the time, Celera said it had used DNA from five anonymous people from different ethnic groups. Now Venter has told the New York Times that his own DNA was the largest contribution.
He also says the analysis of his genome has revealed the presence of a gene variant associated with abnormal fat metabolism and an increased risk of Alzheimer鈥檚 鈥� and that he is taking fat-lowering drugs to combat its effects.
Advertisement
Venter says curiosity prompted him to use his own DNA. 鈥淗ow could one not want to know about one鈥檚 own genome?鈥� he said. He did not make his contribution known at the time of the company鈥檚 announcement 鈥渂ecause I didn鈥檛 want it to be the issue or the focus. Now, after the fact, I don鈥檛 think it matters,鈥� he said.
Fellow gene researchers say they are not surprised that Venter, who has been frequently criticised as arrogant and egocentric, used his own genome. Venter himself says he has been accused of egocentricity 鈥渟o many times, I鈥檝e gotten over it鈥�.
But members of Celera鈥檚 scientific advisory board say they are disappointed that Venter has gone public. 鈥淎ny genome intended to be a landmark should be kept anonymous. It should be a map of all of us, not of one, and I am disappointed if it is linked to a person,鈥� Arthur Caplan, a biomedical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania told the New York Times.
The Human Genome Project consortium says it used a 鈥渕osaic鈥� of DNA from about ten donors to produce their map of the human genome. It allows scientists unrestricted access to its genome database for free, while Celera charges.