Human beings have far fewer genes than originally thought, a consortium of scientists claimed.

The researchers compared the draft human genome with the "gold standard" version, published last year, to work out how they are different.

They found the most up-to-date human genome contains only 20,000 to 25,000 genes - which is about 10,000 less than indicated in the draft. This suggests that gene regulation is far more important than gene number.

Genes are the DNA templates that code for proteins, which then build and maintain our bodies. When the draft human genome was published in 2000, and researchers guessed it contained between 30,000 and 40,000 genes, many people were surprised that something as complex as the human body could be built with such modest materials.

Now the gene number has been revised downwards even further, and scientists suspect that the key to complexity lies not in the genes, but in the gaps between them.

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