The initial sequencing of the human genome published in Nature, volume 409, issue 6822, 15 February, 2001.

the human genome decoded

First edition of the initial sequencing of the human genome in the journal Nature, complete in the original wrappers with folding chart of the genome and the CD-ROM, but lacking the pull-out poster. Together with four issues of the journal Science reporting on the project between 1986 and 2001.

The possibility of sequencing the entire human genome was proposed as early as 1979, and interest among both scientists and governments increased during the 1980s as technological advancements made the concept feasible. The first federal funding was disbursed in 1987 and the project was officially launched in 1990. It remains the world's largest collaborative biological research undertaking, involving scientists in the US, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and China.

'The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium published the first draft of the human genome in the journal Nature in February 2001 with the sequence of the entire genome's three billion base pairs some 90 percent complete. More than 2,800 researchers who took part in the consortium shared authorship. A startling finding of this first draft was that the number of human genes appeared to be significantly fewer than previous estimates, which ranged from 50,000 genes to as many as 140,000. The full sequence was completed and published in April 2003. Upon publication of the majority of the genome in February 2001, Francis Collins, then director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, noted that the genome could be thought of in terms of a book with multiple uses: "It's a history book - a narrative of the journey of our species through time. It's a shop manual, with an incredibly detailed blueprint for building every human cell. And it's a transformative textbook of medicine, with insights that will give health care providers immense new powers to treat, prevent and cure disease"' ('What is the Human Genome Project?', website of the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health).

The four issues of Science are as follows:

Science, volume 231, March 7, 1986, pp. 1045-1224. Editorial by Nobel prize-winning virologist Renato Dulbecco titled 'A Turning Point in Cancer Research: Sequencing the Human Genome'.

Science, volume 250, October 12, 1990, pp. 181-344. Stephens, et al., 'Mapping the Human Genome: Current Status'. pp. 237-244.

Science, volume 274, October 25, 1996, pp. 465-688. Whole issue devoted to the genome.

Science, volume 291, number 5507, February 16, 2001. Whole issue devoted to the project, with CD and fold-out genome map, and large separate 'Annotation of the Celera Human Genome Assembly' poster.

First edition; perfect bound; colour illustrations throughout, including a folding chart of the genome sequence, with the CD in its slipcase loosely inserted but lacking the pull-out poster; original pictorial wrappers, a little rubbed with some loss of text from the spine, very good condition; 154pp. The four issues of the journal Science with some rubbing and fading of the wrappers, overall very good condition.