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The new human pangenome could help unveil the biology of everyone

The pangenome includes the genetic instruction books of 47 people

Illustration of an overhead view of people walking in lines that form the shape of the human DNA double-helix, to represent a single "pangenome".

Researchers have compiled genetic profiles of 47 people into a human pangenome. The work reveals levels of human genetic diversity never seen before.

Hiroshi Watanabe/stone/Getty Images Plus

By Tina Hesman Saey

More than 20 years after people got a peek at the first draft of the human genome, our genetic instruction book, researchers have unlocked the next level: the human pangenome.

In four studies published May 10 in Nature, researchers describe the achievement, how the pangenome was built and some of the new biology scientists are learning from it.