HGP is 10: What animals can tell us

In the second of a series of articles marking the 10th anniversary of the Human Genome Project [ HPG ] , OxSciBlog talks to Professor Chris Ponting of the MRC Functional Genomics Unit at Oxford University. OxSciBlog: What genome efforts have you been involved with? - Chris Ponting: It all started when I was phoned up and asked whether I'd like to help coordinate a set of analyses for the Human Genome Project. Of course, I jumped at the chance but still feel it ironic that, as someone who gave up biology at school at 16 to focus on a training in physics, I was offered this chance. Since then I've worked with many people and groups from around the world on the genomes of the mouse, rat, dog, marsupial, duck-billed platypus , chicken, zebra finch, fruit fly and lizard. OSB: What can all this genetic information from different species tell us? - CP: Having DNA from different species is crucial to understanding the human genome. Each additional genome is an evolutionary yardstick against which human DNA can be compared. For example, when you 'walk' down each chromosome you see DNA letters that are the same in us and in mice - they have stayed unaltered over tens of millions of years because of their biological importance. This is because spontaneous changes (mutations) in important, conserved DNA tend not to be carried over into subsequent generations as they cause illness or even death. By separating DNA that has remained relatively unaltered across animal evolution from DNA that has changed rapidly, we efficiently separate 'functional' DNA from 'junk' DNA. One of the biggest surprises has been the amount of 'junk' DNA. Only about 10% of the human genome appears to 'do' something, the rest appears not to be important at all. OSB: What does your own research focus on?