New Icelandic Genetic Map Will Help Researchers Develop the Medicine of the Future
Scientists in Iceland have sequenced the entire genomes of 2,636 Icelanders and compared them with the partial sequences of another 104,000 Icelanders, in what is the largest project of its kind.
In a bid to find new drugs and understand human evolution, scientists at Amgen Inc.'s DeCode Genetics have sequenced the genomes of more than 1 in every 100 people in the country.
On Wednesday, a series of papers published in the journal Nature Genetics mentioned that the genome data aided the company to confirm the genetic variant, which was earlier suspected to increase the risk of diabetes.
Furthermore, the published studies also mentioned how the researchers were able to identify a genetic variant which has been known to cause atrial fibrillation, a cardiac condition.
The sequenced data is the most comprehensive and largest genetic map of an entire country in recorded history and would be used to discover the genes responsible for certain diseases.
Amgen, the Thousand Oaks, California-based biotechnology company, paid $415 million for Reykjavik, Iceland-based DeCode two years ago.
In the end of the analysis, researchers discovered a new variant linked to Alzheimer disease. Additionally, the study verified the variants that usually increase the risk of diabetes, heart diseases, atrail fibrillation.
DeCode CEO and senior author of the four papers published in Nature Genetics, Kari Stefansson, said the researchers have identified genetic mutations associated with increased risk of other ailments, including those affecting the thyroid and liver, apart from Alzheimer's and atrial fibrillation.
"Our organization is a source of answers to complicated questions about the cause of disease," said Mr. Stefansson. "The next big initiative in health care in the western parts of the world is going to come through the use of genetics. You can basically trace all human diversity, the risk of disease and the response to treatment."
The Icelandic data also suggested that humanity's most recent common male ancestor, the "father" of us all, would have lived between 174,000 and 321,000 years ago.
