Researchers at the BCM genome sequencing center in Houston are
now using the information to discover the genetic basis for
human disease, said Dr. Richard Gibbs, director of the BCM
center and Dr. George Weinstock, co-director. Sequencing
chromosome 3 was also an international collaboration among teams
from the United States (including Baylor College of Medicine in
Houston), Germany and The People's Republic of China. The lead
author of the paper was BCM scientist Donna Muzny, but she and
Dr. Steven Scherer, associate professor in the BCM Human Genome
Sequencing Center, credit Dr. Huanming Yang and the Chinese
sequencing group with playing a critical role in the effort. His
group determined the DNA sequence of a portion of the chromosome
and characterized important elements that regulate how the DNA
is translated into proteins critical to the functioning of the
cell. Yang, of the Beijing Genomes Institute of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences and his colleagues also played host to an
international sequencing con