Mammoth genomics

摘要

Reconstruction of most of the genome sequence of the woolly mammoth illustrates how such investigations will pave the way for a deeper understanding of the biology and evolution of extinct species. How times change. Within the space of less than a decade, the development of high-throughput technologies has transformed the task of sequencing a mammalian genome from the years-long, multimillion-dollar endeavour it was originally, to a project that can be performed by an individual laboratory within a few months. Such is the breathtaking extent of progress that it has now been possible to sequence the nuclear genome of the extinct woolly mammoth (Fig. 1) almost to completion.