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Sunday, 11 February, 2001, 00:21 GMT Code crackers close in on disease A third of chromosomes have been decoded in the UK British scientists say they have cracked the genetic code for nearly half of the world's genetic diseases. The work is part of international efforts to unravel the entire genetic makeup of a human being. The first analyses of the human genetic code will be published this week in two scientific journals, Nature and Science. About 40% of all known genetic diseases are linked to a third of the 24 chromosomes (bundles of DNA) in the human body. The eight have all been decoded in the UK. British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US president Bill Clinton announced last year that the human genetic map was nearing completion. The Sanger Centre, Cambridge Two rival groups are deciphering the human genome: an international public consortium and a private effort led by Dr Craig Venter, of Celera Genomics. About a third of the publicly funded genome sequencing effort has been carried out at the Sanger Centre and the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus near Cambridge. Sir John Sulston, former director of the Sanger Centre, said: "Britain can be proud of the scientists at the Sanger Centre that have worked on, and will continue to work on, the Human Genome Project. "We believe our efforts, our intellectual gift to the world, are valuable because we are providing a vast array of clues to other researchers as to why these diseases arise, and therefore opening up new ways of diagnosing and treating them." Access row Changes, or mutations to human genes, the instructions needed to make a human being, may lead to an array of diseases, including cancer, Alzheimer's and heart disease. Researchers are gradually closing in on disease genes using genetic code released freely on the internet by the public team. Meanwhile, US company Celera says it will make its sequence of the human genetic code available to the academic community on Monday, 12 February. But researchers will have to sign an agreement stating that they will not commercialise their results or redistribute the sequence. This has provoked an angry reaction from some scientists. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1164000/1164014.stm