Timeline: Organisms that have had their genomes sequenced

1976
Bacteriophage MS2
Common name: Bacteriophage MS2
- What is it? A single-stranded RNA virus that infects the family of bacteria that includes E. coli.
- Why was it sequenced? This was the first genome to be completely sequenced.
- Who sequenced it: Walter Fiers and his team” at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Ghent, Belgium.
- How many bases? 3,569 (one of the smallest genomes known)
- How many chromosomes? 1
PhiX174
Common name: PhiX174
- What is it? A bacteriophage (virus that attacks bacteria) containing a single circle of DNA.
- Why was it sequenced? This was the first DNA-based genome to be sequenced.
- Who sequenced it? Fred Sanger and his team” at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK.
- How many bases? 5,386
- How many chromosomes? 1 (single circular chromosome)
1995
Haemophilus influenza
Common name: Haemophilus influenza
- What is it? A non-moving rod-shaped bacterium that causes meningitis.
- Why was it sequenced? This was the first bacteria to be sequenced.
- Who sequenced it? Craig Venter and his team” at The Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Maryland, USA.
- How many bases? 1.8 million
- How many chromosomes? 1 circular chromosome
Methanococcus jannaschii
Common name: Methanococcus jannaschii
- What is it? A heat-loving, methane-producing, single-celled organism.
- Why was it sequenced? This was the first archaeon to be sequenced.
- Who sequenced it? Craig Venter and his team” at The Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville, Maryland, USA.
- How many bases? 1.7 million
- How many chromosomes? 1 circular chromosome
1996
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Common name: Baker’s yeast
- What is it? A species of yeast used in winemaking, baking and brewing.
- Why was it sequenced? This was the first fungi to be sequenced.
- Who sequenced it? The International Collaboration for the Yeast Genome Sequencing.
- How many bases? 12.1 million
- How many chromosomes? 32
1998
Caenorhabditis elegans
Common name: Nematode worm<
- What is it? A free-living, transparent worm about 1 mm in length that lives in the soil.
- Why was it sequenced? This was the first animal to be sequenced.
- Who sequenced it? The Genome Institute at Washington University, USA, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK.
- How many bases? 100 million
- How many chromsomes? 12 in hermaphrodites and 11 in males.
2000
Arabidopsis thaliana
Common name: Thale cress or Arabidopsis
- What is it? A small flowering plant widely used as a model organism in plant biology.
- Why was it sequenced? This was the first plant to have its genome sequenced.
- Who sequenced it? The Arabidopsis Genome Initiative, which involved various institutes from the USA, Europe and Japan including The Institute of Genome Research, USA and Genoscope, France.
- How many bases? 119 million
- How many chromosomes? 5
Drosophila melanogaster
Common name: Fruit fly
- What is it? A small insect commonly found near ripening fruit.
- Why was it sequenced? This is a widely used model organism in scientific research that has been studied for many years.
- Who sequenced it? Celera Genomics, UC Berkeley, Baylor College of Medicine and the European Drosophila Genome Project.
- How many bases? 165 million
- How many chromosomes? 4
2001
Homo sapiens
Common name: Human
- Why was it sequenced? Understanding the human genome will help us to improve human health.
- Who sequenced it? The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) and Celera Genomics.
- How many bases? 3.2 billion
- How many chromosomes? 23
2002
Mus musculus
Common name: Mouse
- Why was it sequenced? Over 95 per cent of the mouse genome is similar to our own, so studying it is really useful for discovering more about human health and disease.
- Who sequenced it? The Mouse Genome Sequencing Consortium (the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Whitehead Center for Genome Research, The Whitehead Center for Genome Research and The Genome Institute at Washington University in St Louis and The Broad Institute at MIT).
- How many bases? 3.48 billion
- How many chromosomes? 20
Anopheles gambiae
Common name: Mosquito
- What is it? It is a flying insect which feeds” on the blood of animals.
- Why was it sequenced? This species of mosquito is the principal vector of malaria, which kills over 1 million people each year.
- Who sequenced it? Celera Genomics, USA and Genoscope, France.
- How many bases? 278 million
- How many chromosomes? 5
Takifugu rubripes
Common name: Japanese pufferfish, Tiger puffer or Fugu
- What is it? It is a small pufferfish native to Japan.
- Why was it sequenced? Comparing other genomes with the pufferfish genome is useful for the study of vertebrate evolution.
- Who sequenced it? The International Fugu Genome Consortium headed by the Joint Genome Institute, California, USA, the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB), Singapore and the Human Genome Mapping Project (HGMP), Cambridge, UK.
- How many bases? 390 million (the smallest known vertebrate genome)
- How many chromosomes? 8
Oryza sativa
Common name: Rice
- Common name: Rice
- What is it? Rice is a staple food for millions of people across the globe.
- Why was it sequenced? Rice is one of the most important crops so it is important to understand its genetics.
- Who sequenced it? The Beijing Genomics Institute, Zhejiang University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
- How many bases? 374 million
- How many chromosomes? 12
2004
Gallus gallus
Common name: Red jungle fowl
- What is it? It is a recent ancestor of the domestic chicken.
- Why was it sequenced? This is the first egg-laying animal to have its genome sequenced.
- Who sequenced it? The International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium.
- How many bases? 1 billion
- How many chromosomes? 78
2005
Pan troglodyte
Common name: Chimpanzee
- What is it? Chimpanzee is one of the great apes along with gorilla, orangutan, bonobo and human.
- Why was it sequenced? It was the first non-human primate genome to be sequenced.
- Who sequenced it? The Chimpanzee Genome Project (Broad Institute at MIT and The Genome Institute at Washington University in St Louis).
- How many bases? 3.3 billion
- Number of chromosomes: 23
2010
Xenopus tropicalis
Common name: Western clawed frog
- What is it? Is a small frog native to Africa.
- Why was it sequenced? Xenopus is a model organism commonly used to study early development.
- Who sequenced it? The US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute and the University of California.
- How many bases? 1.5 million
- Number of chromosomes: 10
2013
Danio rerio
Common name: Zebrafish
- What is it? It is a tropical fish native to southeast Asia.
- Why was it sequenced? Zebrafish is a model organism commonly used in research.
- Who sequenced it? The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
- How many bases? 1.5 billion
- How many chromosomes? 25