Genome
September 16, 2007 5:08 AM Subscribe
I thought he was a duclod....oh wait -- that's Larry Craig. My mistake.
posted by CheeseburgerBrown at 6:02 AM on September 16, 2007
posted by CheeseburgerBrown at 6:02 AM on September 16, 2007
I'm beginning to think that man might have a little bit of an ego.
posted by roue at 6:06 AM on September 16, 2007
posted by roue at 6:06 AM on September 16, 2007
People in my lab were amused that Venter, of all people, chose to publish this in PLoS Biology, that most open of open-access journals.
posted by grouse at 6:06 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by grouse at 6:06 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
I wonder how it feels to have a peer review of your own genome. And I love that of the long, long list of authors for the article this supplemented, he was the very last one.
posted by barchan at 6:13 AM on September 16, 2007
posted by barchan at 6:13 AM on September 16, 2007
And most of the first authors are at the J. Craig Venter Institute.
posted by grouse at 6:14 AM on September 16, 2007
posted by grouse at 6:14 AM on September 16, 2007
And I love that of the long, long list of authors for the article this supplemented, he was the very last one.
That's the best place to be!
posted by kisch mokusch at 6:25 AM on September 16, 2007
That's the best place to be!
posted by kisch mokusch at 6:25 AM on September 16, 2007
I shall create a series of clones of J. Craig Venter in my bathtub, who I will use to serve me cups of tea and backrubs. At night, they will distract the weasels.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 6:32 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 6:32 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
barchan - the last author spot is reserved for the principle investigator; in other words the boss or captain of the lab the published the paper. The first author is (usually) the grunt who did the majority of the work, however.
posted by porpoise at 6:57 AM on September 16, 2007
posted by porpoise at 6:57 AM on September 16, 2007
OK everyone, break out your tool kits. $5 for the first one to make those flying monkeys we've been waiting for.
posted by McLir at 7:15 AM on September 16, 2007
posted by McLir at 7:15 AM on September 16, 2007
I didn't read all of it.
posted by greytape at 7:33 AM on September 16, 2007 [3 favorites]
posted by greytape at 7:33 AM on September 16, 2007 [3 favorites]
tl;dr
posted by Durin's Bane at 7:59 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by Durin's Bane at 7:59 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
Porpoise: yeah, I know (having served as the grunt meself) but in this case the author list was so long it was an "oh yeah, don't forget that guy!" kind of thing, which amused me.
I like to imagine in his lab, people call him Jesus H. Craig.
posted by barchan at 8:01 AM on September 16, 2007
I like to imagine in his lab, people call him Jesus H. Craig.
posted by barchan at 8:01 AM on September 16, 2007
I'm not saying this isn't remarkable, but I know a Japanese guy who plans to make this in origami.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:20 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:20 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
So, is this GPL or Creative Commons?
Fuck, I just actually looked and sure enough it is Creative Commons. Humans are now open source.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 9:22 AM on September 16, 2007
Fuck, I just actually looked and sure enough it is Creative Commons. Humans are now open source.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 9:22 AM on September 16, 2007
Thought it was pretty formulaic, to be honest. Most of the genes in there have been expressed before - and often better - by everybody from David Hume, to Janis Joplin, to Malcolm Gladwell. I think even Brett Ratner's had several of these.
To pick just one example, if you want to see FBXL2 (top left corner, encodes an Fbls protein with an F-box and 12 tandem leucine-rich repeats) done as it was meant to be done, try Alan Moore.
posted by flashboy at 9:30 AM on September 16, 2007 [9 favorites]
To pick just one example, if you want to see FBXL2 (top left corner, encodes an Fbls protein with an F-box and 12 tandem leucine-rich repeats) done as it was meant to be done, try Alan Moore.
posted by flashboy at 9:30 AM on September 16, 2007 [9 favorites]
From the companion article:
Ultimately, as more entire genome sequences and their associated personal characteristics become available, they will facilitate a new era of research into the basis of individuality. The opportunity for a better understanding of the complex interactions among genes, and between these genes and their host's personal environment will be possible using these datasets composed of many genomes. Eventually, there may be true insight into the relationships between nature and nurture, and the individual will then benefit from the contributions of the community as a whole.
You heard 'em folks: unwind those helices. It's for your own good.
posted by buzzv at 10:27 AM on September 16, 2007
Ultimately, as more entire genome sequences and their associated personal characteristics become available, they will facilitate a new era of research into the basis of individuality. The opportunity for a better understanding of the complex interactions among genes, and between these genes and their host's personal environment will be possible using these datasets composed of many genomes. Eventually, there may be true insight into the relationships between nature and nurture, and the individual will then benefit from the contributions of the community as a whole.
You heard 'em folks: unwind those helices. It's for your own good.
posted by buzzv at 10:27 AM on September 16, 2007
Fuck, I just actually looked and sure enough it is Creative Commons. Humans are now open source.
Well, J. Craig Venter is open source, anyway. I'm not sure how useful a single mapped human genome is, since presumably its like having a roadmap to a small British village, when there happens to be about 6 billion other villages laying around -- waiting to be explored.
Am I wrong here?
posted by Avenger at 10:36 AM on September 16, 2007
Well, J. Craig Venter is open source, anyway. I'm not sure how useful a single mapped human genome is, since presumably its like having a roadmap to a small British village, when there happens to be about 6 billion other villages laying around -- waiting to be explored.
Am I wrong here?
posted by Avenger at 10:36 AM on September 16, 2007
The Diploid Genome Sequence of J. Craig Venter is one of my favorite poems, actually. "Let us go then, you and I, /
While my genome is spread out against the sky..." and so on...
posted by tss at 10:36 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
While my genome is spread out against the sky..." and so on...
posted by tss at 10:36 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
Avenger: All the villages differ from each other only very, very slightly, right? Like a few bricks here and there. (Not a biologist.)
posted by tss at 10:39 AM on September 16, 2007
posted by tss at 10:39 AM on September 16, 2007
Avenger: the difference would be that this is the first time a single village has been completely mapped ever.
posted by grouse at 11:37 AM on September 16, 2007
posted by grouse at 11:37 AM on September 16, 2007
Well, J. Craig Venter is open source, anyway. I'm not sure how useful a single mapped human genome is, since presumably its like having a roadmap to a small British village, when there happens to be about 6 billion other villages laying around -- waiting to be explored.
Well, it would more like mapping a city the size of Tokyo and NYC combined, down to the inch, and there were billions of other cities, each nearly identical, except for a few superficial differences, and, well no your analogy doesn't really work.
posted by delmoi at 12:20 PM on September 16, 2007
Well, it would more like mapping a city the size of Tokyo and NYC combined, down to the inch, and there were billions of other cities, each nearly identical, except for a few superficial differences, and, well no your analogy doesn't really work.
posted by delmoi at 12:20 PM on September 16, 2007
Meh, there'll be more of these soon, thanks to ultra-high-throughput sequencing apparatus. A sales rep from a biotech company that sells these things told us that they plan to have a complete human genome out soon using their technology.
posted by greatgefilte at 12:45 PM on September 16, 2007
posted by greatgefilte at 12:45 PM on September 16, 2007
It is rather a signal event.
You could argue that his genes are the very first in the billions of years and trillions upon trillions of genomes history of life on this planet to have contrived to find a way of reproducing themselves entirely, in numbers and with almost perfect fidelity, into the indefinite future-- and they have done so into a previously almost unexploited habitat.
Other individual organisms were ahead of him of course, but perhaps they could not be said to have contrived anything, because they played no role in forming the intent which led to the event. J. Craig Ventner's genes did.
posted by jamjam at 1:40 PM on September 16, 2007 [8 favorites]
You could argue that his genes are the very first in the billions of years and trillions upon trillions of genomes history of life on this planet to have contrived to find a way of reproducing themselves entirely, in numbers and with almost perfect fidelity, into the indefinite future-- and they have done so into a previously almost unexploited habitat.
Other individual organisms were ahead of him of course, but perhaps they could not be said to have contrived anything, because they played no role in forming the intent which led to the event. J. Craig Ventner's genes did.
posted by jamjam at 1:40 PM on September 16, 2007 [8 favorites]
jamjam, you just broke my brain.
posted by Mister Cheese at 1:49 PM on September 16, 2007
posted by Mister Cheese at 1:49 PM on September 16, 2007
Wow - I wonder if he just thought "I'm rich, let me be the first to have a complete gene sequence done," or if he thought "I am totally going to win at evolution."
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 2:23 PM on September 16, 2007
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 2:23 PM on September 16, 2007
I'll show you my Genome sequence, if you'll show me your's.
posted by tighttrousers at 8:05 PM on September 16, 2007
posted by tighttrousers at 8:05 PM on September 16, 2007
tss: Avenger: All the villages differ from each other only very, very slightly, right? Like a few bricks here and there. (Not a biologist.)
Similar village sizes, certainly, and major roads and buildings, but the interior design of some of those buildings are a bit different and the backlanes will differ quite a bit as would sewers and electricity, it's looking more like.
The human leukocyte antigen region will look like junkyards with all kinds of different trash between the different villages.
This more complete map actually tells us that there is more variation between humans than previously thought.
posted by porpoise at 8:22 PM on September 16, 2007
Similar village sizes, certainly, and major roads and buildings, but the interior design of some of those buildings are a bit different and the backlanes will differ quite a bit as would sewers and electricity, it's looking more like.
The human leukocyte antigen region will look like junkyards with all kinds of different trash between the different villages.
This more complete map actually tells us that there is more variation between humans than previously thought.
posted by porpoise at 8:22 PM on September 16, 2007
Very very interesting.
posted by lazaruslong at 12:16 AM on September 17, 2007
posted by lazaruslong at 12:16 AM on September 17, 2007
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(very cool)
posted by Jimbob at 5:15 AM on September 16, 2007