Nature Genetics
25, 235 - 238 (2000)
doi:10.1038/76118
Estimate of human gene number provided by genome-wide analysis using
Tetraodon nigroviridis DNA sequenceHugues Roest Crollius, Olivier Jaillon, Alain Bernot, Corinne Dasilva, Laurence Bouneau, Cécile Fischer, Cécile Fizames, Patrick Wincker, Philippe Brottier, Francis Quétier, William Saurin
& Jean Weissenbach
Genoscope and CNRS FRE2231, Evry cedex,
France.
Correspondence should be addressed to Jean Weissenbach jsbach@genosocope.cns.frThe number of genes in the human genome is unknown, with estimates ranging
from 50,000 to 90,000 (refs 1,
2), and to more than 140,000 according to unpublished sources. We
have developed 'Exofish', a procedure based on homology searches,
to identify human genes quickly and reliably. This method relies on the sequence
of another vertebrate, the pufferfish Tetraodon nigroviridis, to detect
conserved sequences with a very low background. Similar to Fugu rubripes
, a marine pufferfish proposed by Brenner et al.3
as a model for genomic studies, T. nigroviridis is a more practical
alternative4 with a genome also eight times more compact than
that of human. Many comparisons have been made between F. rubripes
and human DNA that demonstrate the potential of comparative genomics using
the pufferfish genome5. Application of Exofish to the December
version of the working draft sequence of the human genome and to Unigene showed
that the human genome contains 28,000−34,000 genes, and that Unigene
contains less than 40% of the protein-coding fraction of the human genome.
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