This article is part of the supplement: Quantitative inference of gene function from diverse large-scale datasets
A race through the maze of genomic evidence
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Corresponding authors: Timothy R Hughes t.hughes@utoronto.ca - Frederick P Roth fritz_roth@hms.harvard.edu
1 Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and Banting and Best Department of Medical Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S3E1, Canada
2 Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School and Center for Cancer Systems Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
Genome Biology 2008, 9(Suppl 1):S1 doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-s1-s1
Published: 27 June 2008First paragraph (this article has no abstract)
One of the most surprising aspects of the completed human and mouse genome sequences [1-3] has been the relatively small number of protein-coding genes. The current estimate of <24,000 protein-coding genes in human and mouse is only four times that of budding yeast [4]. A complete encyclopedia of biochemical, cellular, and physiological gene functions is now an immediate rather than a long-term goal.