How is genome sequencing technology helping aid research today?

An example of how genome sequence technology can make a difference in today’s society is illustrated by the recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) worldwide. Several hundred cases of severe atypical pneumonia were reported in Guangdong Province, China in late 2002. In March 2003, SARS had spread to healthcare workers in Hong Kong and a worldwide epidemic was in the works. By late June, 250 Canadian cases of SARS had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) and 38 patients had died as of July 10th, 2003 [5]. New clusters of patients, including healthcare workers, in Toronto drew a lot of attention from the media worldwide. An isolate of a coronavirus obtained from the second patient in Toronto, called Tor2, was identified as the SARS virus. The virus was then sent to the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in Vancouver for genome sequencing by the Genome Sciences Centre at the BC Cancer Agency [6]. The virus sample arrived on April 2nd and by April 11th the genome of this virus had been sequenced. The first complete assembly of the SARS viral genome was deposited into public sequence databanks the next day on April 12th. The information derived from the genome sequence of SARS gave insights into the origin of the disease as well as aided with patient diagnosis. The speed at which this 29,751 base genome was successfully sequenced is an exciting accomplishment for the field of bioinformatics. Fortunately, the SARS epidemic worldwide is now under control and scientists now have a better understanding of the disease, due in part to the knowledge derived from genome sequencing. It was less than one month, from the isolation of the virus to the publication of the sequence of the SARS genome [7]. This amazing pace of current research can be attributed directly to the development of the technology and expertise emerging out of the HGP and serves to illustrate how genome sequencing technology and bioinformatics will benefit our basic understanding of life and disease processes