Creation Moment 5/14/2023 - Creation Lesson from the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium

"Scientists with the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium have released a new high-quality collection of reference human genome sequences that includes genomes of 47 people, with the goal of increasing that number to 350 by mid-2024.

The original reference human genome sequence is nearly 20 years old and has been regularly updated as technology advances and researchers fix errors and discover more regions of the human genome.

However, it is fundamentally limited in its representation of the

diversity of the human species, as it consists of genomes from only about 20 people, and most of the reference sequence is from only one person.

“Everyone has a unique genome, so using a single reference genome sequence for every person can lead to inequities in genomic analyses,” said Dr. Adam Phillippy.

Structural variants can involve thousands of bases. Until now, researchers have been unable to identify the majority of structural variants that exist in each human genome using short-read sequencing due to the bias of using a single reference sequence.

“The human pangenome reference will enable us to represent tens of thousands of novel genomic variants in regions of the genome that were previously inaccessible,” Wen-Wei Liao." SciNews

 

Lesson from the Creation: Each individual is unique- Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Mark 10:29-31