Introduction to the Human Genome Project

Science Literacy in the 21^st century would not be complete without some knowledge about the Human Genome Project (HGP). Use the following web resources to acquire some basic knowledge about the HGP and at the same time, familiarize yourself with excellent web resources that you can return to again and again for future inquiry.

I. Go to the URL: http://www.genome.gov/Education/ which is a site from the National Institutes of Health and from the menu on the left side of the page, click on “All About the Human Genome Project” to find out:

1. What is a genome?

2. What is the Human Genome Project?

3. What is the scientific name for humans?

4. What biological molecule makes up the genes of the genome?

II. Go to www.dnai.org and click on “Genome” on the top-of-the-page Menu. On that page click on The Project, and then at the top menu of that page, click on “Problem” –

5. What was the challenge of the HGP?

Now click on “Players”(within Genome and The Project) and go to the Pros & Cons icon (+/-) which brings up “interviews”with contemporary scientists about what they thought the pros and cons of the proposed HGP would be. Choose 2 of the 5 interviews, and for each, name the scientist and the opinions pro & con:

Now go to "Pieces of the Puzzle" (inside Genome, The project), run mouse over puzzle pieces, and view the interviews “dealing with the data” and “finding genes” to get an idea of why computers became very important in this project – summarize:

Finally, go to Putting in Together (inside Genome, The Project), click Interviews and choose the last interview that announced the completion of the project “the draft genome sequence”:

9. What three individuals made the announcement ?

10. What was the date of the announcement?

You might enjoy at this site “Putting It Together” trying your hand at the “Sequencing Game.”

III. Go to www.genome.gov/Pages/EducationKit/online.htm

and scroll down to view the multimedia video by clicking on “introduction” to get to the video “Our Molecular Selves” - your computer needs Real video player to view this 15 minutes narrative of the HGP by the scientists to played key roles in the project. Find out

11. How similar are humans to each other? ___________%

12. How many basepairs are in the human genome?________________

13. What is the estimate in basepairs of how much humans differ from each other?__________________

IV. Now go to www.ornl.gov/TechResources/Human_Genome/home.html which is a site from the Department of Energy and click on the “About HGP” box to find out

14. Six goals for the HGP:

15. What are the practical benefits of the HGP – scroll down the page to this section and then from the side menu click on "Benefits” and from this page, list the six areas where benefits are expected, and describe one area in more detail:

Optional. V. Now use your experience with these two sites to find out one more item about the HGP that is of interest to you and summarize below; be sure to include the URL of the cited page from which you retrieved the information:

URL:___________________________________

Optional. VI. Genomics in Oklahoma

Oklahoma has a scientist, Dr. Bruce Roe, who contributed in a major way to the HGP. Visit the web site of the Advanced Center for Genome Technology: http://www.genome.ou.edu and find out more about the Oklahoma connection to the Human Genome Project. See also http://www.noble.org/medicago/index.html and find out:

a. What kind of plant is Medicago and why is it of interest?

b. What Oklahoma organization is doing research with this plant?