A massive library of human genetic activity was unveiled last night by European researchers.
The researchers have tracked the activity of RNA in nearly 500 human beings, linking it to their gene maps.
They say it should give medical researchers rapid access to information about how genes work differently in different people.
Their findings, reported by the Nature group of publications, involved a study of genetic activity in 462 people, who had already taken part in a project to map their genes.
The researchers, who came from nine European centres, say their work shows the extent to which human genes vary from person to person.
Researcher Tuuli Lappalainen, of the University of Geneva, Switzerland, said: "The richness of genetic variation that affects the regulation of most of our genes surprised us.
"It is important that we figure out the general laws of how the human genome works, rather than just delving into individual genes."
And Professor Emmanouil Dermitzakis, who led the project, said the findings pointed the way to medicine having in the future to be tailored to individuals in so-called personalised medicine.
He said: "Understanding the cellular effects of disease-predisposing variants helps us understand causal mechanisms of disease. This is essential for developing treatments in the future."
Nature 15 September 2013; Nature Biotechnology 15 September 2013
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