The Genome Sequence of <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>

Abstract

The fly Drosophila melanogaster is one of the most intensively studied organisms in biology and serves as a model system for the investigation of many developmental and cellular processes common to higher eukaryotes, including humans. We have determined the nucleotide sequence of nearly all of the ∼120-megabase euchromatic portion of the Drosophila genome using a whole-genome shotgun sequencing strategy supported by extensive clone-based sequence and a high-quality bacterial artificial chromosome physical map. Efforts are under way to close the remaining gaps; however, the sequence is of sufficient accuracy and contiguity to be declared substantially complete and to support an initial analysis of genome structure and preliminary gene annotation and interpretation. The genome encodes ∼13,600 genes, somewhat fewer than the smaller Caenorhabditis elegans genome, but with comparable functional diversity.

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Affiliated Institutions

• University of California, Berkeley US
• Institut de Génétique Humaine FR
• Harvard University US
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory US
• University of Cambridge GB
• Torrey Pines Institute For Molecular Studies US
• European Molecular Biology Laboratory DE
• Municipal Institute for Medical Research ES
• University of California, Davis US
• Wellcome Trust GB
• Baylor Genetics US
• Université de Montpellier FR
• Baylor College of Medicine US
• Arizona Science Center US
• Universidad Autónoma de Madrid ES
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique FR
• European Bioinformatics Institute GB
• Université de Rennes FR
• University of Arizona US
• Palo Alto University US
• Stanford University US
• Genoscope FR
• FORTH Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology GR
• Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa ES
• Washington University in St. Louis US

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