HUMAN GENOME PROJECT HISTORY 6: PUBLIC VERSUS PRIVATE 28/2/01. By Georgina Ferry The entry of Celera Genomics into the human genome sequencing arena in 1998 galvanised the public effort.

In May 1998, Craig Venter, founder of The Institute for Genomic Research in Maryland, announced that he had formed a new company (later named Celera Genomics) with the stated aim of sequencing the entire human genome by 2001.

He proposed to use not the map-based approach taken by the Human Genome Project, but 'whole-genome shotgun' methods in which the genome is broken into random lengths, sequenced and reassembled on the basis of sequence overlaps. This method saves time by cutting out the mapping phase, but requires massive computing power to solve the problems of assembly presented by the human genome, which includes many repeated sequences.

Coincidentally, the Wellcome Trust was considering an application from the Sanger Centre to accelerate genome sequencing when the news broke. Within days of the launch of Dr Venter's company, the Trust announced that it was increasing its funding to the Sanger Centre in order to accelerate the production of raw sequence, raising its target from one sixth to one third of the entire genome.

Part of the US agencies' 1998 five-year plan was to produce a 'working draft', rather less complete than John Sulston and Bob Waterston had proposed three years earlier, by the end of 2001.

In the USA, the Venter announcement galvanised the publicly funded project in this way partly for political reasons. "If the publicly sponsored research was seen to be slow and inefficient," says Dr Waterston, "it would erode Congressional support. We would then be left with the production of genomic information entirely in commercial hands. For something so fundamental, that was simply unacceptable."