Knowledge
of the complete genomic DNA sequence of an organism allows a systematic approach to defining its genetic
components. The genomic sequence provides access to the complete structures of all genes, including
those without known function, their control elements, and, by inference, the proteins
they encode, as well as all other biologically important sequences. Furthermore, the
sequence is a rich and permanent source of information for the design of
further biological studies of the organism and for the study of evolution through cross-species
sequence comparison. The power of this approach has been amply demonstrated by the
determination of the sequences of a number of microbial and model organisms. The next step is to obtain
the complete sequence of the entire human genome. Here we report the
sequence of the euchromatic part of human chromosome 22. The sequence obtained consists of 12
contiguous segments spanning 33.4 megabases, contains at least 545
genes and 134 pseudogenes,
and provides the first view of the complex chromosomal landscapes that will be found in the rest
of the genome.
The
DNA sequence of human chromosome 22
Nature 402,
489-495. December 02, 1999