Overview of ENCODE

 

What is ENCODE?

 

ENCODE stands for Encyclopedia of DNA Elements and is a follow up project to the Human Genome Project. The goal of ENCODE is to identify the functional elements of the Human Genome and determine which factors and portions of the genome control hereditary features, controls the dormancy of a gene, or controls diseases. Researchers from around the world used a variety of different assays, Next Generation Sequencing techniques, and DNA methylation to determine the location of these elements. 

 

When did ENCODE end?

 

ENCODE is an ongoing project as there are many extensions to the project. The Human genome is very big and consists of more than 3 billion bps so it takes a long time to annotate the entire genome. The pilot phase of the Human ENCODE was from 2003 and ended in 2007 when approximately 30 million bps of the genome were used for annotation. Currently, Scientists are still trying to completely annotate the 3 billion bps of the human genome to understand the maximum about the miracle of human life. 

 

What are the three main phases of ENCODE?

 

The three main phases are the Pilot Phase, Production Phase, and modENCODE. The pilot phase was a introductory study on the human genome where scientists experimented with different techniques to determine how to efficiently annotate the human genome. During the pilot phase, investigators annotated about 30 million bps of DNA and were able to determine a method for effectively annotating the genome. The production phase was a massive project to sequence the remaining DNA from the pilot phase. ModENCODE stands for Model Organisms ENCODE, which is basically annotating the genomes of model organisms like C. elegans and Drosophilia. 

 

What are the economic benefits of ENCODE?

 

Throughout the ENCODE project, scientists have continually been using new tools to annotate the human genome. This has facilitated the development of next generation sequencing machines as well as new techniques as there is a demand for such technology. Because new machines are being developed, the cost to sequence someone's genome has deacreased significantly. According to Moore's law, the cost to sequence a genome would be a constant linear relation downwards. Moore was correct, except for the fact that the cost of sequencing dropped 10 fold the amount predicted by moore's law. 

 

What are some of the ethics issues and consequences of ENCODE?

 

The ENCODE project opens a whole new sector of genetic medicine and with it comes an entire array of liablility, bioethcial issues, and redefines informed consent. Furthurmore the ENCODE project may provide patients with information about their health that can cause them to react in an unexpected way. An unavoidable disease like suceptibility to paralysis or ALS may cause some people to attempt suicide or lose purpose in life. The knowledge of genetic information also opens up a whole new lane for discrimination as workplaces can use genetic information to know how a person will react, what their strengths and weaknessess are, how suceptible to disease they are, and other information that can be used to single out genetically superior individuals and kick out those that do not have genetically appealing data. In a sense, ENCODE will allow doctors and medically professionals to unlock a whole new level to diagnostic medicine.