More than 180 full genomes have been sequenced — yet the community is crying out for more, not least because of the desire to build up a reputable portfolio of phylogenetically strategic organisms to use for comparative genomics. It is no surprise then that while one set of scientists is busy sequencing, another is looking for clever ways to make the process cheaper, more efficient and more accurate. The sequencing of the rat genome — see the highlight on page 327—nicely illustrates this need: although the 2.7-Gb genome took less than 2 years to put together, the draft sequence is unlikely to be properly finished any time soon — not unless (or rather, until) an ultra-low-cost sequencing technology springs up to make it feasible under current sequencing schedules and budgets.
Jay Shendure and colleagues review some of these emerging technologies on page 335. It won't be long, they expect, before we have the much-coveted US $1,000 genome at our fingertips, which will transform the medical profession by making the whole-genome sequencing of a patient a routine aspect of health care.
