Several ISU scientists and professors have mixed thoughts on how the recent Human Genome Project findings will affect their research angles.Research at Iowa State will not be heavily affected by new discoveries in the Human Genome Project, said Joel Hansen, assistant scientist in the DNA facility. Researchers recently reported that humans have about 30,000 genes, about 70,000 less than previously estimated.Hansen said some human gene research is done at Iowa State, but the majority of research is based on agricultural entities such as corn, soybeans and cattle.”It could refocus research more on downstream, that is, proteins,” Hansen said. “Research beyond the genome will be more difficult because proteins aren’t as easily automated. They have more variables than DNA does.”He also said the splash of media interest in the Human Genome Project may have come as a surprise to the public, but it should not have come as a shock to seasoned scientists.The fact that humans have been reported to have about 30,000 genes is somewhat of a surprise to scientists, however, he said. Homo sapiens were long thought to have approximately 100,000 genes.”It does mean that people realize that there is more to it than just genes,” Hansen said. “What happens after gene expression is very important.”Hansen said once genes are expressed, they interact with each other differently in each organism, which provides wide variations among organisms. This partially explains why the common roadside-mustard weed can have around 26,000 identified genes, a mere 4,000 genes less than a human, he said.Joel Nott, assistant scientist in biotechnology, said Iowa State is now in the “start-up phase” of new research beginnings. Protein facilities note the importance of genetic sequencing because genes provide the necessary details to make proteins, he said.”Everything is shifting from the genome to proteomics, and we have bought some equipment to do this type of research,” Nott said. The most recently purchased machine “separates specific proteins on a gel, so they can be further analyzed,” he said.The ISU protein facility is a service facility, Nott said, in which researchers from various departments do the work, and facility workers analyze the samples with the protein facility’s equipment. Since the genome discovery, the biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology department has requested an analysis of samples, he said.Alan Myers, professor and chairman of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology, currently is working to identify genes in the mustard weed. Since the mustard weed already has been sequenced, he said locating genes is a much quicker process.”[Before], we might have spent a year on one gene,” he said. “Now we can look at the computer sequence.” A big advantage of having the genome sequence available is seeing every gene because it is harder to find the identity of a single gene otherwise, he said.Another plus of genetic sequencing is the ability to compare the sequences of genes from different organisms, Myers said. Basically, one can find some genes that are roughly the same in both organisms and apply that information to the research in question, he said.”My own research is focused on the chemical mechanisms that plants use to synthesize starch,” Myers said. “Starch is very important to many things.”He said he is using the mustard weed and maize, which does not yet have a completed genomic sequence, to learn about starch’s connection with ethanol production.For more information about the Human Genome Project, visit the Nature International Weekly Journal of Science Web site at

http://www.nature.com/genomics/human.