ABSTRACT
Semiautomation of methods for determining the sequence of DNA, combined with the development of very large insert libraries, allowed the contemplation of defining the entire genome of humans and several model species. The Human Genome Project, authored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was organized internationally with primary laboratories in the U.S., U.K., and Japan, with one laboratory designated to analyze each chromosome. The race was joined competitively by Celera Genomics, a commercial laboratory that adopted a shotgun approach to analysis vs. the hierarchical approach of the government project. (Shotgun sequencing is faster but more prone to error.) This challenge seemed to speed the process — completion of the analysis, with a few gaps outstanding, was announced in a joint bulletin in 2000 and published in February 2002, 2 years ahead of schedule.
