Personal genomes

The first versions of the human genome sequence were presented in 2001 (Lander et al., 2001; Venter et al., 2001). They resulted from projects highly demanding in terms of resources and financing. The publicly funded sequencing project was supported by a $3 billion grant allocated to the Human Genome Project, and Craig Venter's project is reported to have cost $300 million. Since 2001, however, DNA sequencing technology has been made much more effective (Metzker, 2010) and the cost of sequencing a human genome has dropped dramatically. Now, in 2012, it is less than $5000 and is expected to become even less expensive. Furthermore, a human genome is now being sequenced in less than one week. Current DNA sequencing machines are able to produce gigabytes of data every day, and large sequencing centres are able to produce data at an unprecedented rate. For instance, the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) in Hong Kong is reported to have, as of December 2010, a total sequencing capacity of an astounding five terabases (5 × 1012, equivalent to 1000 human genomes) per day.