The European Bacillus subtilis genome sequencing project: current status and accessibility of the data from a new World Wide Web site.

Sequencing of microbial and eukaryotic genomes has recently gained considerable impetus. In Europe, the concerted efforts of a number of sequencing networks has led to the completion of the yeast genome (Dujon, 1996; Johnston, 1996) and to progress in the sequencing of a plant genome, Arabidopsis thaliana (Goodman e t al., 1995), and a microbial genome, Bacillus sz/btilis (Devine, 1995 ; Harwood & Wipat, 1996; Kunst e t al., 1995). The genomes of Haemopbih infaenxae and Mycoplasma genitalitrm have been sequenced and published in their entirety (Fleischmann e t al., 1995; Fraser e t al., 1995), while the genome sequencing of a number of other bacteria of medical, industrial or ecological interest, such as Synecbocystis, Myco bacteriwv, Synecbococczls, and several archaeobacteria, is in progress or has been completed (Koonin e t al., 1996). The resulting opportunities for whole-genome comparisons will provide valuable insights into bacterial cell physiology and genome evolution (Tatusov e t al., 1996).