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The human genome project is not the only important one. Alongside it, but with considerably less publicity, are running projects to sequence the genomes of pathogenic microorganisms responsible for various infectious diseases. Information from these projects, by improving understanding of the basic molecular biology of pathogenic microorganisms, promises to lead to better treatment and prevention of these diseases. Antibiotic resistance in the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus has become a serious problem in recent years, with the appearance first of meticillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and then of strains resistant to glycopeptides such as vancomycin (VRSA). The worry is that there may soon be strains of S. aureus that are resistant to all known antibiotics. A blow in the war against S. aureus has now been struck with the sequencing, by a Japanese research group, of the genomes of both an MRSA strain and a VRSA strain [Kuroda, M. et al (2001) Lancet 357, 1225-1240; also see Commentary by Ala'Aldeen and Grundmann]. Sequences have been identified that are potentially important for virulence in these organisms, and hence as drug targets. The authors also suggest that antibiotic resistance in the VRSA strain could be associated with genes found on a mobile genetic element (transposon) that may be capable of moving between different species.