Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

E. coligenome sequence

A blueprint for life

Nature volume 389, pages 120–121 (1997)Cite this article

“This is truly the age of bacteria: as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be.” — Stephen Jay Gould.

Given this perspective, and the abundance and diversity of microbes past and present, surely no one would argue the priority afforded by prokaryotes in our efforts to understand the fundamentals of life? Historians of science may find it difficult to escape the conclusion that the limited funding for prokaryotic genome sequencing up to 1995 was extraordinary. The complete genome sequence of Haemophilus influenzae from scientists at the Institute of Genome Research began to change the course of biology4. With the publication of the complete E. coli genome sequence by Blattner and colleagues5 in Science, we might consider that we have reached ‘the end of the beginning’.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

NIBSC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

References

  1. Hale, T. L.et al. Infect. Immun. 40, 340–350 (1983).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Riley, L. W.et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 308, 681–685 (1983).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Cross, A. S.et al. J. Infect. Dis. 149, 184–193 (1984).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Fleischmann, R. D.et al. Science 269, 496–512 (1995).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Blattner, F. R.et al. Science 277, 1453–1461 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Schaechter, M. & Neidhardt, F. C. in Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium (eds Neidhardt, F. C. et al.) 1-2 (ASM, Washington, 1987).

  7. Neidhardt, F. C. et al.(eds) Escherichia coli and Salmonella 2nd edn (ASM, Washington, 1996).

  8. Cairns, J., Stent, G. S. & Watson, J. D. (eds) Phage and the Origins of Molecular Biology (Cold Spring Harbor, New York, 1966).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the University of Oxford Institute of Molecular Medicine (University Department of Paediatrics and Nuffield Department of Clinical Biochemistry, respectively), John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK

    E. Richard Moxon & Christopher F. Higgins

Authors
  1. E. Richard Moxon
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christopher F. Higgins
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Moxon, E., Higgins, C. A blueprint for life. Nature 389, 120–121 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/38107

Download citation

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/38107

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing