Worm to elephant: New genome targets

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has released a list of 18 wildly different creatures as targets for genome sequencing.

BIG JOB. The African savannah elephant provides a target for genome sequencing. J. Cohen/National Zoo

The scientists making the selection clambered all over the tree of life, looking for lineages near dramatic branching points, according to Adam Felsenfeld, a biologist at NHGRI in Bethesda, Md.