The human genome project: genetic and physical mapping.

The modern tools of molecular biology, recombinant DNA techniques, have given scientists the ability to isolate and study individual genes from even complex eukaryotic genomes. The availability of genes enables the study o f their structure and biologic function, and their role in normal and abnormal physiologic processes. A worldwide effort to study and understand the entire human genome is under way, which will result in information on the location of all genes, their sequences, and their complex regulation and interactions. As this knowledge becomes available, it will be rapidly applied to the practice of medicine through use in the development of diagnostic tests for genetic-based diseases and in the development of therapeutics.