Welcome to the 1001 Genomes Project
The 1001 Genomes Vision
The 1001 Genomes Project, launched at the beginning of 2008, has a simple goal: to discover the whole-genome sequence variation in 1001 strains (accessions) of the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The resulting information will pave the way for a new era of genetics that combines large-scale association studies in wild strains with forward genetic analyses in experimental crosses, in order to identify alleles underpinning phenotypic diversity across the entire genome and the entire species. The analyses enabled by this project will have broad implications for areas as diverse as evolutionary sciences, plant breeding and human genetics.
This 1001 Genomes Project is particularly timely because the current technological revolution in sequencing means that it is now feasible to resequence large numbers of genomes. Indeed, a 1000 Genomes project for humans has just been launched in early 2008 as well. There are, however, several important differences between the two projects. The most important one is that each of the accessions in the Arabidopsis 1001 Genomes project is an inbred line with seeds that will be freely available from the stock centre to all our colleagues. Unlimited numbers of plants with identical genotype can be grown and phenotyped for each accession, in as many environments as desired, and so the sequence information we collect can be used directly in association studies at biochemical, metabolic, physiological, morphological, and whole plant-fitness levels.
As of earl 2010, the complete genome sequences of over 80 accessions have already been released by the Max Planck Institute. There are commitments for the remaining accessions, primarily from the Salk Institute, the Gregor Mendel Institute and Monsanto, and we are hoping for completion of the 1001 Genomes project in the first half of 2011.
Progress as of July 29, 2010:
Commitments: 1001
Sequencing underway: 98
Finished genomes: 158
Released genomes: 94
