Brenner S, Elgar G, Sandford R, Macrae A, Venkatesh B, Aparicio S
MRC Molecular Genetics Unit, University of Cambridge Clinical School, Addenbrooke's Hospital, UK.
Nature. 1993 Nov 18;366(6452):265-8. doi: 10.1038/366265a0.
Cloning and sequencing techniques now allow us to characterize genes directly instead of having to deduce their properties from their effects. This new genetics reaches its apotheosis in the plan to obtain the complete DNA sequence of the human genome, but this is far beyond the capacity of present sequencing methods. Small 'model' genomes, 'such as those of Escherichia coli (4.7 megabases (Mb) and yeast (14 Mb), or even those of Caenorhabditis elegans (100 Mb) and Drosophila (165 Mb), are better scaled to existing technology. The yeast genome will contain genes with functions common to all eukaryotic cells, and those of simple multicellular organisms may throw light on the genetic specification of more complex functions. However, vertebrates differ in their morphology and development, so the ideal model would be a vertebrate genome of minimum size and complexity but with maximum homology to the human genome. Here we report the characterization of the small genome (400 Mb) of the tetraodontoid fish, Fugu rubripes. A random sequencing approach supported by gene probing shows that the haploid genome contains 400 Mb of DNA, of which more that 90% is unique. This genome is 7.5 times smaller than the human genome and because it has a similar gene repertoire it is the best model genome for the discovery of human genes.
克隆和测序技术如今使我们能够直接对基因进行特征描述，而不必再从基因的效应来推断其特性。这种新遗传学在获取人类基因组完整DNA序列的计划中达到了极致，但这远远超出了目前测序方法的能力。小型“模式”基因组，如大肠杆菌（470万个碱基对（Mb））和酵母（14 Mb）的基因组，甚至秀丽隐杆线虫（100 Mb）和果蝇（165 Mb）的基因组，更适合现有技术。酵母基因组将包含所有真核细胞共有的功能基因，而简单多细胞生物的基因组可能会揭示更复杂功能的遗传特征。然而，脊椎动物在形态和发育方面存在差异，因此理想的模式应该是一个大小和复杂度最小但与人类基因组同源性最高的脊椎动物基因组。在此，我们报告对河豚鱼红鳍东方鲀小基因组（400 Mb）的特征描述。由基因探测支持的随机测序方法表明，单倍体基因组含有400 Mb的DNA，其中90%以上是独一无二的。这个基因组比人类基因组小7.5倍，并且由于它具有相似的基因库，所以是发现人类基因的最佳模式基因组。
