# Whoe genomes are they? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2001, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoe-genomes-are-they/54353 "2001-02-13T20:15:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![berdollos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoe-genomes-are-they/54353/1 "2001-02-13T20:15:30Z")
Two human genomes have been completed? Are they genomes of individuals and, if so, who? Are they genomes of groups of people - a few or many? What were their gender, racial, ethnic makeups? Why were they chose? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoe-genomes-are-they/54353/2 "2001-02-13T21:26:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by berdollos \* > Two human genomes have been completed? Two different sets of analysis of the human genome have been completed. > [@](#): > > Are they genomes of individuals and, if so, who? Yes, a set of anonymous donors/sources. As memory serves at least five individuals. > [@](#): > > Are they genomes of groups of people - a few or many? There is but one genome for humanity. > [@](#): > > What were their gender, racial, ethnic makeups? I don’t recall the details per se, but the samples were relatively representative of North America. Further research is needed for a full picture o diversity, but as human diversity (genetically speaking) is low, this is good enough. > [@](#): > > Why were they chose[n]? I assume because they filled the need and were available. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoe-genomes-are-they/54353/3 "2001-02-13T23:55:26Z")
One privately funded project, by [Celera](http://www.celera.com/) is publishing its analysis of the Human Genome in [Science](http://www.sciencemag.org/), while the publicly funded international [Human Genome Project](http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/HGP/) is publishing its analysis of its own sequencing of the human genome (from different samples) in [Nature](http://www.nature.com/nature/). At least some of the individuals whose DNA were used in the public Human Genome Project were selected because they responded to a classified ad in the newspaper placed in various localities around the world (Buffalo, NY was one locality). I don’t know how Celera chose its samples, but it is rumored that one was the president of Celera, J. Craig Venter, supposedly chosen because he runs the place. ---
**Author:** ![berdollos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2001, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoe-genomes-are-they/54353/4 "2001-02-18T23:12:21Z")
It turns out that the human genome is an average of blood samples from about 200 people from all races and regions. It is a male because the y chromosome had to be included to get a complete genome. They do not yet know what eye color it would have or any other characteristics until the genome is sorted out. I heard this from an author on c-span who wrote a book about the genome. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoe-genomes-are-they/54353/5 "2001-02-19T07:44:12Z")
Berdellos’ information would appear to be relevant to the government funded part of the HGP and not to Celera’s indepedant effort. (The bit about eye color boggles me though.) Celera indicates: > [@](#): > > Recruitment of donors of DNA for sequencing was done via self-referral, newspaper ads, and outreach activities to ensure ethnic diversity. Celera followed a strict Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol to provide for informed consent and protect the anonymity of the donors. Five individuals were chosen from Celera’s donor pool of 21 individuals. These donors are men and women from a variety of self-disclosed ethnic backgrounds. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2001, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whoe-genomes-are-they/54353/6 "2001-02-19T08:45:10Z")
Just as a matter of technicality, the **whole** genome isn’t being sequenced. There are hundreds of megabases of repetitive sequence in the human genome. Given the current shotgun method of sequencing, the vast majority of these Alu and other repeats cannot be aligned properly. Therefore, they are left out. They are mostly nonfunctional heterochromatin anyway. This DNA is not active in the traditional sense, although a few active genes may be nestled amongst it. It also plays an important structural role (telomere/centromere repeats).