I'm the human genome, says 'Darth Venter' of genetics

Craig Venter, the controversial geneticist who led private industry's decoding of the human genome, has revealed a startling secret. The genome - unravelled two years ago - is his.

To the surprise of scientists, Venter has admitted that much of the DNA used by his company, Celera Genomics, as part of this decoding effort came from his cells. The news has annoyed his colleagues, who claim that Venter subverted the careful, anonymous selection process they had established for their DNA donors.

But Venter says the data revealed by his own scanners may already have been crucial in lengthening his life. He has announced he has started taking fat-lowering drugs after analysing results of his genome analysis.

Both sides of the decoding project - an international, publicly funded arm, and a private industrial group led by Celera - said they had used DNA from anonymous donors. Celera said theirs was drawn from a pool of 20 donors from five ethnic groups. But now Venter has revealed he had overridden the process when he was head of the company, with the result that its genome was mostly based on his DNA.

Given his reputation as the 'Darth Venter of genetics', the egomaniac who tried to hijack the human genome project, the revelation will only fuel the scientific controversy surrounding him.

'It doesn't surprise me. It sounds like Craig,' said Nobel laureate James Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA.

Venter said that because of his action he had discovered that he had inherited a variant gene known as ApoE4 from one of his parents, a piece of mutant DNA associated with an abnormal fat metabolism and an elevated risk of Alzheimer's. He is taking fat-lowering drugs to counteract its effects.

As to his reasons for his actions, Venter was unequivocal. 'How could one not want to know about one's own genome?' he said. Neither was he fazed about accusations of egocentricity. 'I've been accused of that so many times, I've got over it,' he said.

Celera's science board was not so understanding. 'Any genome intended to be a landmark should be kept anonymous. It should be a map of all of us, not of one, and I am disappointed if it is linked to a person,' said board member Arthur Caplan.

He added that the drive to sequence the human genome was an opportunity for personal glory as well as scientific discovery. Venter's action emphasised the first motive.