The human genome: an immuno-centric view of evolutionary strategies

A hallmark of modern biology is the realization of the fundamental unity of biological processes in all life forms. Consequently,the complete genome s equencing of various bacteria, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), fly (Droso phila melanogaster) and worm (Caenorhabditis elegans) over the past five ye ars has already had an impact on all of biology. 'Model organisms' have con tributed a great deal to immunology; for example, the Toll receptors of the fly provided the impetus for the investigation of Toll-like receptors, whi ch proved to be fundamental elements in the mammalian innate immune system. The recent release of a draft sequence of the human genome provides the fi rst panoramic view of the 30000-35000 human genes in the human genetic blue print and provides a plethora of new details, the significance of which wil l take some time to appreciate. The over-riding concepts that emerge from t hese studies relate primarily to general evolutionary processes that are eq ually as relevant to immunology as they are to other disciplines of biology .