Yeasties and beasties: 7 years of genome sequencing

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome sequencing project was the first of many projects aimed at sequencing the entire genomes of model organisms. Since its initiation in 1989, there have been numerous debates about the validity of genome sequencing, especially with reference to the model organisms. Seven years on, I hope to satisfy some of the critics by demonstrating that, as a consequence of the mass of data now becoming available from such projects, and the beginning of the major collaborative effort to sequence the human genome, we are now entering an exciting and dynamic time for those involved not only in genome sequencing, but also in all areas of the biological sciences.