Researchers have successfully created an "atlas" which maps how the human genes are activated and deactivated, paving the way for new insights regarding the influence of genetics for disease control and prevention.
The research project, called the FANTOM5, is a collaborative effort of more than 250 experts from 20 different countries. Its main goal is to map the gene-activity which influences the main tissues and cells in a man's body.
"Now, for the first time, we are able to pinpoint the regions of the genome that can be active in a disease and in normal activity, whether it's in a brain cell, the skin, in blood stem cells or in hair follicles," associate professor of bioinformatics and computational biology at Harvard School of Public Health, Winston Hide expressed in a press release .
The atlas used the data gathered by the Human Genome Project, another project which successfully mapped out 20,500 genes and was completed in 2003. Francis Collins, director of National Human Genome Research Institute described this as a manual for genetic scientists since it has the most detailed blueprint for every cell found in the human body.
In the FANTOM5 project, Hide and his team documented the activity of almost 224,500 genes and how and when they turn on or off. The map also included the switches, areas in our DNA which are responsible for the gene's activity.
"We now have the ability to narrow down the genes involved in particular diseases based on the tissue cell or organ in which they work," Hide said in the press release. "This new atlas points us to the exact locations to look for the key genetic variants that might map to a disease."
This research was published in the March 27 issue of Nature.
