A case for a Glossina genome project

Given the medical and agricultural significance of Glossina, knowledge of the genomic aspects of the vector and vector-pathogen interactions are a high priority. In preparation for a full genome sequence initiative, an extensive set of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) has been generated from tissue-specific normalized libraries. In addition, bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) libraries are being constructed, and information on the genome structure and size from different species has been obtained. An international consortium is now in place to further efforts to lead to a full genome project.