Genome projects

The Human Genome Project was organized to map and to sequence the human genome. Other genome projects include mouse, rice, the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the puffer fish, bacteria like E. coli, etc. In 1976, Walter Fiers at the University of Ghent (Belgium) was the first to establish the complete nucleotide sequence of a viral RNA-genome (bacteriophage MS2). The first DNA-genome project to be completed was the Phage Φ-X174, with only 5368 base pairs, which was sequenced by Fred Sanger in 1977 . The first bacterial genome to be completed was that of Haemophilus influenzae, completed by a team at The Institute for Genomic Research in 1995.

In May 2007, the New York Times announced that the full genome of DNA pioneer James D. Watson had been recorded.[1] The article noted that some scientists believe this to be the gateway to upcoming personalized genomic medicine.

Many genomes have been sequenced by various genome projects. The cost of sequencing continues to drop.


[edit] Comparison of different genome sizes
Main article: Genome size
Organism Genome size (base pairs) Note
Virus, Bacteriophage MS2 3,569 First sequenced RNA-genome[2]
Virus, SV40 5,224 [3]
Virus, Phage Φ-X174; 5,386 First sequenced DNA-genome[4]
Virus, Phage λ 50,000
Bacterium, Haemophilus influenzae 1,830,000 First genome of living organism, July 1995[5]
Bacterium, Carsonella ruddii 160,000 Smallest non-viral genome.[6]
Bacterium, Buchnera aphidicola 600,000
Bacterium, Wigglesworthia glossinidia 700,000
Bacterium, Escherichia coli 4,000,000 [7]
Amoeba, Amoeba dubia 670,000,000,000 Largest known genome.[8]
Plant, Arabidopsis thaliana 157,000,000 First plant genome sequenced, Dec 2000.[9]
Plant, Genlisea margaretae 63,400,000 Smallest recorded flowering plant genome, 2006.[9]
Plant, Fritillaria assyrica 130,000,000,000
Plant, Populus trichocarpa 480,000,000 First tree genome, Sept 2006
Yeast,Saccharomyces cerevisiae 20,000,000 [10]
Fungus, Aspergillus nidulans 30,000,000
Nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans 98,000,000 First multicellular animal genome, December 1998[11]
Insect, Drosophila melanogaster aka Fruit Fly 130,000,000 [12]
Insect, Bombyx mori aka Silk Moth 530,000,000
Insect, Apis mellifera aka Honey Bee 1,770,000,000
Fish, Tetraodon nigroviridis, type of Puffer fish 385,000,000 Smallest vertebrate genome known
Mammal, Homo sapiens 3,200,000,000
Fish, Protopterus aethiopicus aka Marbled lungfish 130,000,000,000 Largest vertebrate genome known

Note: The DNA from a single human cell has a length of ~1.8 m (but at a width of ~2.4 nanometers).

Since genomes and their organisms are very complex, one research strategy is to reduce the number of genes in a genome to the bare minimum and still have the organism in question survive. There is experimental work being done on minimal genomes for single cell organisms as well as minimal genomes for multicellular organisms (see Developmental biology). The work is both in vivo and in silico.