Craig Venter's DNA

J. Craig Venter, famed geneticist (and member of The Scientist's linkurl:editorial board;http://www.the-scientist.com/about/themagazine/editorialboard/ ) who this summer made headlines with the development of a technique for creating a linkurl:synthetic;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53341/ bacterial cell, once again hit the news with today's linkurl:publication;http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050254 of his own genome in a paper

Written byAlla Katsnelson

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J. Craig Venter, famed geneticist (and member of The Scientist's linkurl:editorial board;http://www.the-scientist.com/about/themagazine/editorialboard/ ) who this summer made headlines with the development of a technique for creating a linkurl:synthetic;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/53341/ bacterial cell, once again hit the news with today's linkurl:publication;http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0050254 of his own genome in a paper in PLoS Biology. Venter's genome is not the only individual genome to be decoded; the genome of linkurl:James Watson;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/53415/, co-discoverer of the double helix, was decoded in February of this year. Scientifically, a complete read of a single genome allows researchers to compare differences between the two sets of chromosomes to determine which genes come from which parent. This "diploid genome" reveals that the genetic variation between the two sets (especially non-SNP variation) is about five times greater than researchers had previously thought, with 44 percent of genes contributed by one parent different from those from the other parent. A Washington Post linkurl:article;http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/03/AR2007090301106.html on the study takes a measured approach, noting that the method used to complete Venter?s genome does not give a fully diploid result, and pointing out that the degree of variation approaching what the paper reports had been suspected before. The story cites George Church of Harvard University describing the study as "a small quantitative milestone." The New York Times linkurl:story;http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/science/04vent.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 instead focuses on the race - the original race to publish the human genome in 2001, and the race since then to develop newer and better technologies for sequencing. It also plays to the cult of personality that has developed around Venter over the past decade, giving voice to critics who comment on his "vanity."

Craig Venter's DNA

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