IT’S the blueprint for life, but not all of our genome is truly mission-critical. Now the first systematic search for non-essential regions of the human genome is providing an estimate of the “minimal genome” needed by a healthy human being, as well as clues to our evolutionary history.
Previous studies suggested it is possible to lead a full and healthy life without every single bit of the genome. “You don’t need a complete genome to be a complete person,” says Terry Vrijenhoek of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands.
To put a figure on how much of…
