What Would You Sequence If the Price Were Only $1000?

 
Nature Genetics has a Question of the Year.

The sequencing of the equivalent of an entire human genome for $1,000 has been announced as a goal for the genetics community, and new technologies suggest that reaching this goal is a matter of when, rather than if. What then? In celebration of its upcoming 15th anniversary, Nature Genetics is asking prominent geneticists to weigh in on this question: what would you do if this sequencing capacity were available immediately?

That's an easy one to answer.

My students are involved in several projects that try to figure out the evolution of our favorite gene family [HSP70]. Many of the projects are limited by the lack of complete information on every member of the gene family in certain key species. (See The Evolution of Gene Families for am explanation of why you need to have sequences of every copy.)

So here's a short list of genome sequences that we desperately need in order to address some important issues:

• any snake; rattlesnake would be good
• any turtle
• any bird other than chicken; ostrich or emu would be good, penguin would be awesome
• lamprey
• octopus
• lobster or crab
• maple tree and dandelion; or any other pair of flowering plants (except rice or Arabidopsis)
• ginkgo
• any bryophyte
• any moss
• horsetail

[Hat Tip: Hsien Hsien Lei]