Google DeepMind publishes AI-powered predictions for effect of all 9B mutations to human DNA

Google DeepMind said Tuesday that it has used artificial intelligence to predict the biological consequences of all 9 billion possible single-letter changes to human DNA, and is making the resulting database available free to academic researchers worldwide.

AlphaGenome Atlas, as DeepMind calls the database, is a precomputed catalogue of what each substitution of a single DNA base is likely to do to the machinery that switches genes on and off. Until now researchers had to run such a model one variant at a time or had to test variants in the laboratory, a process that was painstakingly slow. It would have taken many human lifetimes to discover the consequences of all 9 billion possible single-letter mutations.

The Atlas promises to make the job of biologists and medical researchers considerably easier, potentially speeding up the understanding of genetic diseases and the hunt for possible cures.