Sequencing and functional analysis of the yeast genome

The genome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae was sequenced by an international consortium of laboratories from Europe, Canada, the U.S.A. and Japan. This project is now finished and the complete sequence of the first eukaryotic genome was released to the public data bases in April 1996. An overview and preliminary analysis of the entire genome sequence was presented in a special issue of Nature in May 1997, entitled "The yeast genome directory". At its origin the Yeast Genome Sequencing Project provoked much debate and controversy; however, the final results obtained and the insights this has given us into the organisation and content of a eukaryotic genome have more than justified the expectations of the supporters of the project. The importance of genomic sequencing and analysis, especially of model organisms, is now widely accepted and this has resulted in the birth of the new science of genomics (Botstein & Cherry, 1997, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 94, 5506). The information from gene and protein sequences ultimately lead to functional description of all genes. The main strategies describing possible ways to analyse the function of new genes that have been identified by systematic sequencing of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome are described.