Reposting Ongoing Genome Project Debate

Question

[Neo]

what do you think?

if a genome sequencing project is listed as ongoing on entrez, would it not prevent institutes from sequencing the same/similar strains by error? or will it just lead to people rushing to publish?

Answer 1

[Haibao Tang]

Absolutely not. Just a few years ago, it would take an international consortium, multi-million dollars to do a genome project, but it is no longer the case.

As the sequencing power is becoming more accessible, many labs with active funding can directly take on a genome project, use a few collaborators on assembly and annotations, and quickly get a draft sequence. Listing an ongoing genome project in GenBank would not stop eager scientists from getting the genome of their favorite organism, I think.

Competition is always good for science. Personally I don't see a problem, but I am a bit disappointed seeing many genomes released with minimal quality control.