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Information required by a cell stored is in the nucleus. Encoded into the structure of the nucleus are DNA molecules called chromosomes. This information allows the cell to replicate, differentiate into all the different cells that comprise a human, interact with other cells, respond to threat and replace damaged tissue. An understanding of the information stored in the chromosomes will give biologists insight into how the cell functions. The basis of the HGP is the decoding of all information stored in the chromosomal DNA. This part of the project is known as DNA sequencing. There are 3 billion residues, or bases, in the human genome and the order of these bases that encodes the biological information. As a prelude to the main act of sequencing the human genome, many more simple organisms have their genomes sequenced. These include many bacteria and viruses as well as yeast. .
To sequence the human genome, maps of the chromosomes based on the DNA of the chromosomes are constructed. These maps known as physical maps, a series of overlapping pieces of DNA. These pieces of DNA are ordered as they would appear in the human genome and are used as the templates for the sequencing project. Scientists found that they needed to patent their work because their breakthroughs may take years to obtain. .
That plan set out a set of specific goals for the first five years of the research project. The research community focused their efforts on the most important initial objectives. As a result, a number of the initial goals were achieved and progress towards other goals were made on or ahead of schedule. The success of these specific goals will require the development of a variety of new technology. When the initial goals were adopted in 1990, it was understood that achieving them would require a significant degree of improvement in the necessary technology. From the beginning, efforts to improve technologies were successful and those successes have had the continuous effect of changing the shape of the project.
