The sequence of the last chromosome in the human genome has been published, marking the completion of the Human Genome Project.

Chromosome one is the largest of the human chromosomes; it contains about 8% of our genome. This chromosome is involved in over 350 diseases, including some cancers, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

A draft of the genome was published in 2001, and in 2003, a far more accurate sequence was completed, although there were still some gaps in it. But analysis of 22 numbered chromosomes, plus the X and Y chromosome, gives a “gold standard” for the gene content of the human genome. And the publication of chromosome 1 completes the set.

The sequencing of chromosome one took an international team of scientists 10 years to complete. They found that it contains 3,141 genes, more than 1,000 of which were completely new to science. “This moment, the publication of the sequence from the last and largest human chromosome, completes the story of the Human Genome Project and marks the growing wave of biological and medical research founded on the human genome sequence…”

The sequence of chromosome one, along with all of the other sequences, has been made publicly available.

I guess we could call this — “The end of the beginning”. There’s a lot of research and results we now can look forward to.