WILL YOUR FAVORITE GENOME BE SEQUENCED?

¹ DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and University of California Berkeley, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, CA, 94598

We are entering the Age of Genomics. Soon, young biologists will wonder how research was done before the availability of large amounts of DNA sequence, as some do now when reflecting on the days before computers or DNA cloning. Large scale genome sequencing efforts are complete, underway, or planned for dozens of eukaryotes and hundreds of prokaryotes. Yet, much of the scientific community is unaware of the processes used for selecting genomes to target and of the important considerations that must be addressed for a successful genome sequencing project. The DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) is one of the leading centers for producing and analyzing DNA sequence. (JGI’s current capacity tops 50,000 nucleotides per minute, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.) I will discuss our processes for producing high depth draft sequences, our research programs underway, our newly established programs for greater interaction with the scientific community, and our processes for selecting genome targets.