Courtesy of William Ghiorse (2 Termononaspora images) and Margie Romine (Sphingomonas image)

The two images at left are of Termononaspora fusca. Right: Sphingomonas aromaticivorans

Be forewarned. Visitors to Walnut Creek, Calif., may want to leave their pets at home to keep them from becoming fodder for gene sequencers. The Joint Genome Institute (JGI) at Walnut Creek, genome central for the U.S. Department of Energy, is one of the largest sequencing operations in the world, where "it turns out it's more of a question of what not to do next," says Paul Predki, associate director for production genomics. Predki directs sequencing operations at the institute, which announced in November the rapid sequencing of 15 bacterial genomes in its October month-long "Microbial Marathon," as well as the beginning of a large Fugu rubripes (puffer fish) sequencing project that may amuse sushi eaters around the globe.

The microbial marathon came...