title: Complex genetic diseases: controversy over the Croesus code.
abstract: The polarization of views on how best to exploit new information from the Human Genome Project for medicine reflects our ignorance of the genetic architecture underlying common diseases: are susceptibility alleles common or rare, neutral or deleterious, few or many? Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) technology is almost in place to dissect such diseases and to create a personalized medicine, but success is critically dependent on the biology and "Nature to be commanded must be obeyed" (Francis Bacon, 1620, Novum Organum).
authors.affiliation: MRC Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK. alan.wright@hgu.mrc.ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: N D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Hastie
mesh_terms: D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics; D005826:Genetics, Medical / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D015894:Genome, Human; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D016045:Human Genome Project; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics