In the news

The conventional wisdom is that DNA sequences that are conserved between different organisms are likely to be functionally important. For this reason, sequencing of the human genome has been accompanied by parallel projects to sequence and analyse the genomes of a variety of other organisms including the rat and the mouse. Recently the National Human Genome Research Institute, the US organisation that funds and manages the largest US-based genome sequencing projects, announced the next group of organisms that are favoured for having their genomes sequenced. They include the domestic chicken and the chimpanzee (man's closest genetic relative), as well as several species of fungi, and other organisms that are commonly used by research biologists, such as the sea urchin. The organisms were chosen by peer review of "white papers" submitted by groups of researchers. The selection criteria included the importance of work on the organism to medical research and to basic biology and evolutionary studies, as well as the size of the research community and the availability of tools to enable efficient use of genomic data from the organism.