genomes of Neanderthals and long dead Homo sapiens specimens, giving science an unprecedented view of our past history. Ethical issues have also emerged as the technology gets faster and cheaper. Development of new gene editing technologies opens the way for germline editing of humans and raises many questions about the application of this technology. This new edition by Rob and Michael will provide the kind of modern, current, and thought‐provoking information that is in keeping with one of the most important scientific revolutions of our time.
As a natural history museum, the AMNH strives to educate the public about science in the natural world and to teach the public about how science is accomplished, who scientists are, and what the science might mean to their future. This edition of Welcome to the Genome is a wonderful extension of that initial effort in education that the AMNH launched nearly two decades ago.
Michael J. Novacek
Provost of Science
American Museum of Natural History
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Second editions test the foundations of longstanding collaboration, especially when a book’s research and writing goes on far longer that either collaborator had predicted (or, for that matter, hoped). But here we are. Welcome to the Genome (the second edition) is a book way too many years in the making. The slow pace at which we wrote, however, actually turned out to be a good thing. The science evolved. As did our own perspectives on genomics. And if you look at the tone of the two editions of the book, our evolution on the genomic revolution is clear. We went from “Hey, this is awesome and it will change the world” (first edition) to “The science and technology of genomics are amazing, especially as they impact basic science. But, as far as the genome’s impact on our collective health and wellbeing, well, way too much hype” (second edition).
This second edition, built on the foundation of the first, owes so much to the many librarians and archivists who guided us through both editions. We also remain thankful to the many members of our team who made this book possible. At the American Museum of Natural History, Maron Waxman, formerly Special Publications Director, who is now enjoying retirement, was a dedicated editor, staunch advocate, and good friend, and remains the reason why we wrote this book in the first place.
The staff of the American Museum of Natural History’s photo studio, including Denis Finnin and Craig Chesek, helped us put together the images seen in both the first and second editions. Some of these images began as components of the Museum’s exhibition “The Genomic Revolution,” an exhibit that ran at the Museum and then nationally from 2002 to 2010. We are grateful to the Museum’s exhibition team, including Vice President for Exhibitions, David Harvey, and exhibition designer, Tim Nessen.
We remain grateful for the inspiration and contributions from the writers and researchers in the Museum’s Exhibition Department, who played an important role shaping this book, especially the first edition. Lauri Halderman, Karen de Seve, and Martin Schwabacher were the writers for “The Genomic Revolution.” Some of the passages and case studies in both editions were originally researched and written by the exhibition’s writing team. We especially relied on their approach and writing in Chapter 10, which looks at genetically modified organisms. And we must also thank and recognize Dr. Yael Wyner for her efforts in guiding the exhibition’s content and thus for her intellectual contributions to this book.
The entire staff of the Museum’s library and archives deserves our special thanks for helping us with this project. Finally, we want to thank Museum President, Ellen Futter, and Museum Provost, Michael Novacek, whose continued support and commitment to public education about the genome project helped get both volumes of this book off the ground.
Two colleagues read the manuscript in its entirety. Dr. Holly Tabor, Associate Professor of Medicine at Stanford University, and David Randle from the American Museum of Natural History offered detailed comments on the book. Suzanne Grossman, my former research assistant here at Drexel, spent almost a year working with Rob and I completing the book, editing the text, gaining photo and image permissions, and making sure we got the damn thing done. We are so grateful to Suzanne! Thank you! We are grateful for the additional research assistance provided along the way by Katia Duey and Jaime Earnest at Drexel.
Finally, we are very grateful for the patience and ongoing support of Antony Sami, Priya Subbrayal, and the entire team at John Wiley & Sons, who helped shepherd this second edition to completion.
INTRODUCTION: WELCOME BACK TO THE GENOME
Every one of the trillions of cells in your body contains DNA—from the blood cells that course through your veins to the nerve cells in your brain to the hair follicle cells that line your scalp. The tightly coiled DNA in a single cell, 6 feet long and just one molecule wide when unraveled, packs more than 3 billion bits of information. This complete set of information is your genome. The approximately 20,000 genes in your genome (a figure that has been revised down significantly since we wrote the first edition of this book more than a decade ago), interacting with each other and with your environment, help shape the development of a new human being and are constantly at work instructing our bodies to create new cells, digest food, fend off disease, and store thoughts. Genes and DNA capture our imagination because of their impact on why we are the way we are. But how much control do genes and DNA really have over our bodies and our behavior? And to what extent will our changing understanding of the human genome change who we are and how we see the world? Are our genes our destiny? Are our genomes our fate?
Such questions captured our imagination in the midst of the genomic revolution—the international multi‐billion‐dollar effort to sequence, interpret, and exploit the human genetic code. It was believed that a map of our genome would offer boundless potential to sequence, interpret, and then exploit the information contained in the genetic code. The excitement over the potential to improve our health—to stave off disease, to apply genomic tools to feed the world’s growing population, to save species on the brink of extinction—captured the imaginations of scientists around the globe in the opening decade of the genomic revolution.
In June 2000, scientists triumphantly announced they had sequenced the human genome. (1) By sequencing those 3.2 billion units of our DNA, researchers sparked a firestorm of discovery and ushered in a new age. At a White House ceremony to announce the completion of a draft sequence of the human genome, President Bill Clinton called the genome God’s handiwork. “Today,” Clinton stated, “we are learning the language in which God created life.” (2) Clinton’s vision of the genome was one that mixed a metaphor of scientific advancement with a divine spirit. This image of the human genetic code is a fairly common one. The genome has also been called the book of life, biology’s Rosetta Stone, humanity’s instruction manual, and biology’s Holy Grail. Each of these metaphors conveys a slightly different meaning, and each suggests a subtly different aspect of the genome. Not so hidden in these metaphors is the hope that biology will provide clear‐cut answers to long‐asked questions regarding the nature of the human soul, the power of science to heal and rebuild the human body, and the role of nature in human social behavior. The genome will indeed provide some answers to these questions, but not the simple answers that many of these metaphors suggest.
The media both anticipated and echoed the hyperbole of that White House ceremony. Headlines like “Long Held Beliefs Are Challenged by New Human Genome Analysis” (New York Times, 2001), “Reading the Book of Life: Genome Shows Evolution Has an Eye for Hyperbole” (New York Times, 2001), and “Double Helix Is Starting To Make Its Mark In Medicine” (Financial Times, 2003) underscored the genome’s complexity, allure, and promise. (3) But did we oversell the genome? Has the early allure and promise translated into meaningful
