Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome - Vitagenes

articlesthe fraction of reads matching the draft genome sequence shouldprovide an estimate of genome coverage. In practice, the comparisonis complicated by the need to allow for repeat sequences, theimperfect sequence quality of both the raw sequence and the draftgenome sequence, and the possibility of polymorphism. Nonetheless,the analysis provides a reasonable view of the extent towhich the genome is represented in the draft genome sequence andthe public databases.We compared the raw sequence reads against both the sequencesused in the construction of the draft genome sequence and all ofGenBank using the BLAST computer program. Of the 5,615 rawsequence reads analysed (each containing at least 100 bp of contiguousnon-repetitive sequence), 4,924 had a match of $ 97%identity with a sequenced clone, indicating that 88 6 1.5% of thegenome was represented in sequenced clones. The estimate issubject to various uncertainties. Most serious is the proportion ofrepeat sequence in the remainder of the genome. If the unsequencedportion of the genome is unusually rich in repeated sequence,we would underestimate its size (although the excess would becomprised of repeated sequence).We examined those raw sequences that failed to match bycomparing them to the other publicly available sequence resources.Fifty (0.9%) had matches in public databases containing cDNAsequences, STSs and similar data. An additional 276 (or 43% of theremaining raw sequence) had matches to the whole-genome shotgunreads discussed above (consistent with the idea that these readscover about half of the genome).We also examined the extent of genome coverage by aligning thecDNA sequences for genes in the RefSeq dataset 110 to the draftgenome sequence. We found that 88% of the bases of these cDNAscould be aligned to the draft genome sequence at high stringency (atleast 98% identity). (A few of the alignments with either the randomraw sequence reads or the cDNAs may be to a highly similar regionin the genome, but such matches should affect the estimate ofgenome coverage by considerably less than 1%, based on theestimated extent of duplication within the genome (see below).)These results indicate that about 88% of the human genome isrepresented in the draft genome sequence and about 94% in thecombined publicly available sequence databases. The ®gure of 88%agrees well with our independent estimates above that about 3%,5% and 4% of the genome reside in the three types of gap in the draftgenome sequence.Finally, a small experimental check was performed by screening alarge-insert clone library with probes corresponding to 16 of thewhole genome shotgun reads that failed to match the draft genomesequence. Five hybridized to many clones from different ®ngerprintclone contigs and were discarded as being repetitive. Of theremaining eleven, two fell within sequenced clones (presumablywithin sequence gaps of the ®rst type), eight fell in ®ngerprint clonecontigs but between sequenced clones (gaps of the second type) andone failed to identify clones in the ®ngerprint map (gaps of the thirdtype) but did identify clones in another large-insert library.Although these numbers are small, they are consistent with theview that the much of the remaining genome sequence lies withinalready identi®ed clones in the current map.Estimates of genome and chromosome sizes. Informed by thisanalysis of genome coverage, we proceeded to estimate the sizes ofthe genome and each of the chromosomes (Table 8). Beginning withthe current assigned sequence for each chromosome, we correctedfor the known gaps on the basis of their estimated sizes (seeabove). We attempted to account for the sizes of centromeres andheterochromatin, neither of which are well represented in the draftsequence. Finally, we corrected for around 100 Mb of artefactualduplication in the assembly. We arrived at a total human genomesize estimate of around 3,200 Mb, which compares favourably withprevious estimates based on DNA content.We also independently estimated the size of the euchromaticportion of the genome by determining the fraction of the 5,615random raw sequences that matched the ®nished portion ofthe human genome (whose total length is known with greaterprecision). Twenty-nine per cent of these raw sequences found amatch among 835 Mb of nonredundant ®nished sequence. Thisleads to an estimate of the euchromatic genome size of 2.9 Gb. Thisagrees reasonably with the prediction above based on the length ofthe draft genome sequence (Table 8).Update. The results above re¯ect the data on 7 October 2000. Newdata are continually being added, with improvements being made tothe physical map, new clones being sequenced to close gaps anddraft clones progressing to full shotgun coverage and ®nishing. Thedraft genome sequence will be regularly reassembled and publiclyreleased.Currently, the physical map has been re®ned such that thenumber of ®ngerprint clone contigs has fallen from 1,246 to 965;this re¯ects the elimination of some artefactual contigs and theclosure of some gaps. The sequence coverage has risen such that90% of the human genome is now represented in the sequencedclones and more than 94% is represented in the combined publiclyavailable sequence databases. The total amount of ®nished sequenceis now around 1 Gb.Broad genomic landscapeWhat biological insights can be gleaned from the draft sequence? Inthis section, we consider very large-scale features of the draftgenome sequence: the distribution of GC content, CpG islandsand recombination rates, and the repeat content and gene content ofthe human genome. The draft genome sequence makes it possible tointegrate these features and others at scales ranging from individualFigure 10 Screen shot from UCSC Draft Human Genome Browser. Seehttp://genome.ucsc.edu/.Figure 11 Screen shot from the Genome Browser of Project Ensembl. Seehttp://www.ensembl.org.NATURE | VOL 409 | 15 FEBRUARY 2001 | www.nature.com © 2001 Macmillan Magazines Ltd875