Preliminary Analysis of Craig Venter's Genome Sequence Published. (September 4, 2007)

    At a cost of about US$10 million a preliminary analysis published this week (S. Levy et al. PLoS Biol. 5, e254; 2007) by Craig Venter's group has analysed the sequences belonging to both chromosomes in each of the 23 chromosome pairs constituting his genome. For the first time the variation between the two chromosomes of a pair within an individual has been compared, keeping in mind of course, that it is currently at the "draft" stage.

The most striking finding is that some 44% of Dr Venter's genes contained a genetic difference between copies found on each chromosome of the pair.  Overall Dr Venter's haploid chromosomal sets differed by 0.5%, which suggests, according to the senior author of the paper, that there may be seven times more DNA variation than previously expected.