ABOVE: © ISTOCK, JOHN CARNEMOLLA
The Vertebrate Genomes Project aims to sequence every extant vertebrate species—there are about 66,000—and to make them of the highest possible value. Today (September 13), the group published the culmination of three years of work to determine the best methodologies, along with 15 genomes representing 14 species.
The research effort is part of the Genome 10K (G10K) Project, launched in 2009 with the aim of sequencing 10,000 vertebrate genomes—from at least one individual of every genus.
The newly sequenced genomes, which are publicly available in the Genome Ark database, “is our introduction to the world,” VGP-G10K Program Director Sadye Paez tells Science. “We are hoping that the announcement will generate excitement.”
The genomes include four mammals (two bat species, the Canada lynx, and the duck-billed platypus, three birds (the kakapo, male and female zebra finches, and a hummingbird), a newly discovered turtle, a limbless amphibian, ...
