Targeted Comparative Sequencing Illuminates Vertebrate Evolution

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This technique may revolutionize the model species concept

Aristotle envisioned humanity as the pinnacle of a "Great Chain of Being," a parade of organisms that evolved toward a state of undefined perfection. He might be surprised to learn that to understand how humans came to be, science needs to consult the lesser beasts, particularly their DNA, for genomes carry the ultimate fossils, the living records of shared ancestries, written in a simple four-letter alphabet.

"Comparative genome analyses will be immensely important in identifying the protein-encoding elements in the human genome, and in providing insights into genome evolution," says Eric Green, chief of the …