Fewer than 25,000 genes in the human genome

As the number of human genes drops downward, it becomes apparent that the key technical, and patent, frontier is at the proteome, not the genome.

from The Scientist:

Still, it is the paucity of genes in the human genome—a figure revised downward to fewer than 25,000—that continues to "blow our socks off," according to Francis Collins. It seems like an awfully short list to account for the biological properties of a human being, he said.