BIOLOGY is on the brink of a new era. Scientists have sequenced nearly all the genes of the fruit fly, and say they will complete the work in the next few months-more than a year ahead of schedule.
The announcement boosts controversial claims by Celera Genomics, the Maryland company that is doing much of the work, that it will completely sequence the human genome by the end of 2001. Craig Venter, head of Celera, hopes the fruit fly success will unite other researchers behind him. “I’m optimistic that it will help get a human collaboration get off the ground,” he…
