The year 1977 is quite remarkable in the history of genomics. It was the first time that thecomplete genome of an organism (phage ΦX174) would be sequenced – the advent of the firstgeneration of sequencing technologies. Of the two sequencing methods published that year,Fred Sanger’s ‘chain-termination’ method would become the mainstay of sequencing technologyfor the next three decades. Because of its better usability compared to the Maxam-Gilbertmethod, it was widely preferred and became commercialised1 by Applied Biosystems Inc.Thanks to the collaborative efforts of scientists across the world,2 Sanger sequencing eventuallyproduced a reference human genome, courtesy of the US$2.7-billion (United States dollar)Human Genome Project completed in 2003.
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