EQUINE GENOMICS GENETICS: THE IMPACT ON DISEASE DIAGNOSIS, RESEARCH TREATMENT

摘要

Within the last 15 to 20 years there has been an explosion of information on medical genetics that has greatly influenced the practice of human medicine. Most of these advances have been the result of the human genome project that has sequenced the entire human genome and located the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 human genes on their respective chromosomes. The sequencing of the human genome has not only allowed for the discovery of numerous disease mutations, it has resulted in the development of "genomic medicine." Genomics is a relatively recent term that refers to not just the study of single genes and their effects, but to the functions and interactions of all the genes in the genome. Genetics in human medicine is moving away from simply the diagnosis and treatment of single gene diseases and towards understanding how a patient's underlying genetic susceptibilities effect health, disease risk and treatment choices.