These days, genomics--study of an organism or biological system by looking at many genes at a time--is considered cool by hip biologists. But with researchers jostling to get their favorite organism decoded next, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has decided it's time for a sequencing summit. NHGRI director Francis Collins says he has invited an array of experts to the National Institutes of Health campus near Washington, D.C., on 9 to 10 July "to develop rational guidelines [for sequencing priorities], instead of responding to the group yelling the loudest."
Large-scale international sequencing centers are currently busy polishing the human genome sequence and completing work on biomedically important species such as the mouse, rat, and zebrafish. But once those chores are done, says H. Robert Horvitz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, the sequencers should take on species that have clear relevance to evolutionary biology, biomedicine, and comparative genomics. That might put some obscure animals at the head of the line.
But don't forget an organism's PR appeal, says NHGRI adviser Maynard Olson of the University of Washington, Seattle. He would sequence primates next, even if they are not the scientific community's first choice, because the animals capture the public's imagination.
