Since its launch in 1990, the Human Genome Project has earned worldwide admiration, racked up $437 million in US government funding, and even landed its own day (April 25 is National DNA Day). But the genome alone can't explain how our bodies work. For that, you need to decode a lot of other "-omes" — all the complex biological systems that regulate how we develop. (The suffix is borrowed from the word chromosome, but scientists have gotten pretty fast and loose with it.) Tracking them all requires an omeome.
The "-ome" What it is Why it matters
| Epigenome | The history of environmental influences on a genome. Factors like diet and pollution messed with our ancestors' DNA. Pinpointing how would help explain human development patterns.
| Metabolome | Analysis of the small molecules used in creating energy. Getting a grip on metabolites could be the key to the ultimate personalized diet or deciphering metabolic disorders like diabetes.
| Microbiome | The combined genomes of all the organisms in your body. Outsiders like bacteria and fungi shack up with human cells. Knowing everything about them could clarify their role in sickness and health.
| Physiome | A detailed blueprint of the human body. This is no mere organ wall chart. Modeling the body on scales from the atomic to the cellular could help predict disease outcomes.
| Proteome | The full range of proteins in a cell, tissue, or organism. Proteins play a part in almost everything your body does, so they're key to understanding everything from digestion to cancer.
| Transcriptome | All the messenger RNA molecules — transcripts — in a cell. Transcripts initiate gene expression and capture a record of genetic activity, which might reveal what some mystery genes do.
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