The publication of the complete sequence of two bacterial genomes In 1995 marked the beginning of the era of large-scale sequencing. Since then, sequence data has been accumulating at more and more impressive rhythms, such that the scientific community can no longer keep pace by immediate analysts of the results. One year ago the sequence of the first practically completed. Sequencing of multicellular eukaryotic genomes (Drosophila and Arabidopsis) Is at an advanced stage. This year, a much less than working draft much greater than of the major part of the human genome sequence should become available. This will be followed by a more complete version, and by another human genome sequence produced by a private company using a quite different strategy. The sequence capacities that have-been established tor the human genome can later be mobilized for the sequencing, in the space of a few years, of several large genomes of model organisms and species of agronomic interest.
