Human Genome Project Information Archive
1990–2003

In the News

Drosophila Sequencing Nears Completion

In September researchers at Celera Genomics announced that they had obtained the raw sequence for the 140-Mb euchromatic region of Drosophila melanogaster's 180-Mb genome (http://www.celera.com). The Celera group is collaborating with the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (BDGP) consortium, directed by Gerald Rubin, to deliver a completely finished sequence map of the Drosophila genome by the end of the year (http://www.fruitfly.org).

Celera plans to begin making the sequence data avalable to the public in October, and publication in collaboration with BDGP is expected early in 2000. Because the human and fruitfly genomes share many similarities, the finished sequence should provide an important key to understanding human biology.

Celera researchers used high-throughput machines and a whole-genome shotgun strategy (average coverage, 10x) to decode sequence from many small, random DNA fragments. BDGP provided 26.5 Mb of completed genome sequence and a low-coverage (~1.5x) "scaffold" shotgun sequence of each BAC and P1 clone containing the fragmented DNA. This scaffold map will assist researchers in assembling fragments and finishing gaps.

BDGP is a consortium of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Baylor College of Medicine; and Carnegie Institution of Washington. It is funded by NIH, DOE, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The electronic form of the newsletter may be cited in the following style:
Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome News (v10n3-4).