By the end of 2001, almost 500 genome programs were completed or under way. Drawing upon what researchers worldwide are learning from the gene sequences of bacteria, plants, fungi, fruit flies, worms, and humans, Danchin shows us how genomes are far more than mere collections of genes.

Antoine Danchin is Professor and Head of the Unit of Genetics of Bacterial Genomes at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and Director of the HKU–Pasteur Research Center in Hong Kong.