An image of the 46 chromosomes, making up the diploid genome of human male. (The mitochondrial chromosome is not shown.)

In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA.^[1]

Origin of term[link]

The term was adapted in 1920 by Hans Winkler, Professor of Botany at the University of Hamburg, Germany. The Oxford English Dictionary suggests the name to be a blend of the words gene and chromosome. A few related -ome words already existed, such as biome and rhizome, forming a vocabulary into which genome fits systematically.^[2]

Overview[link]

Some organisms have multiple copies of chromosomes, diploid, triploid, tetraploid and so on. In classical genetics, in a sexually reproducing organism (typically eukarya) the gamete has half the number of chromosomes of the somatic cell and the genome is a full set of chromosomes in a gamete. In haploid organisms, including cells of bacteria, archaea, and in organelles including mitochondria and chloroplasts, or viruses, that similarly contain genes, the single or set of circular and/or linear chains of DNA (or RNA for some viruses), likewise constitute the genome. The term genome can be applied specifically to mean that stored on a complete set of nuclear DNA (i.e., the "nuclear genome") but can also be applied to that stored within organelles that contain their own DNA, as with the "mitochondrial genome" or the "chloroplast genome". Additionally, the genome can comprise nonchromosomal genetic elements such as viruses, plasmids, and transposable elements.^[3]

When people say that the genome of a sexually reproducing species has been "sequenced", typically they are referring to a determination of the sequences of one set of autosomes and one of each type of sex chromosome, which together represent both of the possible sexes. Even in species that exist in only one sex, what is described as "a genome sequence" may be a composite read from the chromosomes of various individuals. In general use, the phrase "genetic makeup" is sometimes used conversationally to mean the genome of a particular individual or organism. The study of the global properties of genomes of related organisms is usually referred to as genomics, which distinguishes it from genetics which generally studies the properties of single genes or groups of genes.

Both the number of base pairs and the number of genes vary widely from one species to another, and there is only a rough correlation between the two (an observation known as the C-value paradox). At present, the highest known number of genes is around 60,000, for the protozoan causing trichomoniasis (see List of sequenced eukaryotic genomes), almost three times as many as in the human genome.

An analogy to the human genome stored on DNA is that of instructions stored in a book:

• The book (genome) would contain 23 chapters (chromosomes);
• each chapter contains 48 to 250 million letters (A,C,G,T) without spaces;
• Hence, the book contains over 3.2 billion letters total;
• The book fits into a cell nucleus the size of a pinpoint;
• At least one copy of the book (all 23 chapters) is contained in most cells of our body. The only exception in humans is found in mature red blood cells which become enucleated during development and therefore lack a genome.

Sequencing and mapping[link]

In 1976, Walter Fiers at the University of Ghent (Belgium) was the first to establish the complete nucleotide sequence of a viral RNA-genome (bacteriophage MS2). The next year, Phage Φ-X174, with only 5386 base pairs, became the first DNA-genome project to be completed, by Fred Sanger. The first complete genome sequences for representatives from all 3 domains of life were released within a short period during the mid-1990s. The first bacterial genome to be sequenced was that of Haemophilus influenzae, completed by a team at The Institute for Genomic Research in 1995. A few months later, the first eukaryotic genome was completed, with the 16 chromosomes of budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae being released as the result of a European-led effort begun in the mid-1980s. Shortly afterward, in 1996, the first genome sequence for an archaeon, Methanococcus jannaschii, was completed, again by The Institute for Genomic Research.

The development of new technologies has made it dramatically easier and cheaper to do sequencing, and the number of complete genome sequences is growing rapidly. The US National Institutes of Health maintains one of several comprehensive databases of genomic information.^[4] Among the thousands of completed genome sequencing projects include those for mouse, rice, the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the puffer fish, and bacteria like E. coli.

New sequencing technologies have also opened up the prospect of personal genome sequencing as an important diagnostic tool. A major step toward that goal was the completion in 2007 of the full genome of James D. Watson, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA.^[5]

Whereas a genome sequence lists the order of every DNA base in a genome, a genome map identifies the landmarks. A genome map is less detailed than a genome sequence and aids in navigating around the genome. The Human Genome Project was organized to map and to sequence the human genome. A fundamental step in the Human genome project was the release of a detailed genomic map by Jean Weissenbach and his team at the Genoscope in Paris.^[6][7]

Genome compositions[link]

Genome composition is used to describe the make up of contents of a haploid genome, which should include genome size, proportions of non-repetitive DNA and repetitive DNA in details. By comparing genome compositions between genomes, it helps people better understanding evolution history of genome.

When talking about genome composition, one should distinguish between prokaryotes and eukaryotes as the big differences on contents structure they have. In prokaryotes, most of the genome (85-90%) is non-repetitive DNA, which means coding DNA mainly forms it, while non-coding regions only take a small part^[8] . On the contrary, eukaryotes have the feature of exon-intron organization of protein coding genes; the variation of repetitive DNA content in eukaryotes is also extremely high. When refer to mammalians and plants, the major part of genome is composed by repetitive DNA^[9] .

Most biological entities that are more complex than a virus sometimes or always carry additional genetic material besides that which resides in their chromosomes. In some contexts, such as sequencing the genome of a pathogenic microbe, "genome" is meant to include information stored on this auxiliary material, which is carried in plasmids. In such circumstances then, "genome" describes all of the genes and information on non-coding DNA that have the potential to be present.

In eukaryotes such as plants, protozoa and animals, however, "genome" carries the typical connotation of only information on chromosomal DNA. So although these organisms contain chloroplasts and/or mitochondria that have their own DNA, the genetic information contained by DNA within these organelles is not considered part of the genome. In fact, mitochondria are sometimes said to have their own genome often referred to as the "mitochondrial genome". The DNA found within the chloroplast may be referred to as the "plastome".

Genome size[link]

Genome size is the total number of DNA base pairs in one copy of a haploid genome. The genome size is positively correlated with the morphological complexity among prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes; however, after Mollusks and all the other higher eukaryotes above, this correlation is no longer effective^{[10] [11]} . This phenomenon also indicates the mighty influence coming from repetitive DNA act on the genomes.

Since genomes are very complex, one research strategy is to reduce the number of genes in a genome to the bare minimum and still have the organism in question survive. There is experimental work being done on minimal genomes for single cell organisms as well as minimal genomes for multicellular organisms (see Developmental biology). The work is both in vivo and in silico.^[12][13]

Proportion of non-repetitive DNA[link]

The proportion of non-repetitive DNA is calculated by using length of non-repetitive DNA divide by genome size. Protein-coding genes and RNA-coding genes are generally non-repetitive DNA^[30] . Bigger genome doesn’t mean more genes, and the proportion of non-repetitive DNA decreases along with the increase of genome size in higher eukaryotes^[31] .

It had been found that the proportion of non-repetitive DNA can vary a lot between species. Some E. coli as prokaryotes only have non-repetitive DNA, lower eukaryotes such as C. elegans and fruit fly, still possess more non-repetitive DNA than repetitive DNA^[32][33] . Higher eukaryotes tend to have more repetitive DNA than non-repetitive one. In some plants and amphibians, the proportion of non-repetitive DNA is no more than 20%, becoming a minority component^[34].

Proportion of repetitive DNA[link]

The proportion of repetitive DNA is calculated by using length of repetitive DNA divide by genome size. There are two categories of repetitive DNA in genome: tandem repeats and interspersed repeats^[35] .

Tandem repeats[link]

Tandem repeats are usually caused by slippage during replication, unequal crossing-over and gene conversion^[36] , satellite DNA and microsatellites are forms of tandem repeats in the genome^[37] . Although tandem repeats count for a significant proportion in genome, the largest proportion in mammalian is the other type, interspersed repeats.

Interspersed repeats[link]

Interspersed repeats are mainly come from transposable elements (TEs), it also include some protein coding gene families and pseudogenes. Transposable elements are able to integrate into the genome at another site within the cell^{[38] [39]} . It is believed that TEs is an important driving force on genome evolution of higher eukaryotes^[40] . TEs can be classified into two categories, Class 1 (retrotransposons) and Class 2 (DNA transposons)^[41] .

Retrotransposons[link]

Retrotransposons can be transcribed into RNA, which then duplicated at another site into the genome^[42] . It can be divided into Long terminal repeats (LTRs) and Non-Long Terminal Repeats (Non-LTR)^[43] .

Long Terminal Repeats LTRs are similar to retroviruses, which both have gag and pol genes to make cDNA from RNA and proteins to insert into genome, but LTR can only act within the cell as they lack env gene in retroviruses^[44] . It had been reported that LTR consist largest fraction in most plant genome and might account for the huge variation in genome size^[45] .

Non-Long Terminal Repeats (Non-LTRs) Non-LTR can be divided into long interspersed elements (LINEs), short interspersed elements (SINEs) and Penelope-like elements. In Dictyostelium discoideum there is another DIRS-like elements belong to Non-LTRs. Non-LTR is widely spread in eukaryotic genomes^[46] .

Long interspersed elements (LINEs) are able to encode two Open Reading Frames (ORFs) to generate transcriptase and endonuclease, which are essential in retrotransposition. Human genome has around 500,000 LINEs, taking 17% of the genome^[47] .

Short interspersed elements (SINEs) are usually less than 500 base pairs and need to co-opt with the LINEs machinery to function as nonautonomous retrotransposons^[48] . Alu element is the most common SINEs found in primates, it length about 350 base pairs and take 11% of human genome, counts around 1,500,000 copies^[49] .

DNA transposons[link]

DNA transposons generally move by “cut and paste” in the genome, but duplication has also been observed. Class 2 TEs don’t use RNA as intermediate and are popular in bacteria, in metazoan it has also been found^[50] .

Genome evolution[link]

Genomes are more than the sum of an organism's genes and have traits that may be measured and studied without reference to the details of any particular genes and their products. Researchers compare traits such as chromosome number (karyotype), genome size, gene order, codon usage bias, and GC-content to determine what mechanisms could have produced the great variety of genomes that exist today (for recent overviews, see Brown 2002; Saccone and Pesole 2003; Benfey and Protopapas 2004; Gibson and Muse 2004; Reese 2004; Gregory 2005).

Duplications play a major role in shaping the genome. Duplications may range from extension of short tandem repeats, to duplication of a cluster of genes, and all the way to duplications of entire chromosomes or even entire genomes. Such duplications are probably fundamental to the creation of genetic novelty.

Horizontal gene transfer is invoked to explain how there is often extreme similarity between small portions of the genomes of two organisms that are otherwise very distantly related. Horizontal gene transfer seems to be common among many microbes. Also, eukaryotic cells seem to have experienced a transfer of some genetic material from their chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes to their nuclear chromosomes.

See also[link]

• Full genome sequencing
• Bacterial genome size

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Benfey, P.; Protopapas, A.D. (2004). Essentials of Genomics. Prentice Hall. 
• Brown, Terence A. (2002). Genomes 2. Oxford: Bios Scientific Publishers. ISBN 978-1-85996-029-5. 
• Gibson, Greg; Muse, Spencer V. (2004). A Primer of Genome Science (Second ed.). Sunderland, Mass: Sinauer Assoc. ISBN 0-87893-234-8. 
• Gregory, T. Ryan (ed) (2005). The Evolution of the Genome. Elsevier. ISBN 0-12-301463-8. 
• Reece, Richard J. (2004). Analysis of Genes and Genomes. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-470-84379-9. 
• Saccone, Cecilia; Pesole, Graziano (2003). Handbook of Comparative Genomics. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-39128-X. 
• Werner, E. (2003). "In silico multicellular systems biology and minimal genomes". Drug Discov Today 8 (24): 1121–1127. DOI:10.1016/S1359-6446(03)02918-0. PMID 14678738. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Genome

• Build a DNA Molecule
• Some comparative genome sizes
• DNA Interactive: The History of DNA Science
• DNA From The Beginning
• All About The Human Genome Project — from Genome.gov
• Animal genome size database
• Plant genome size database
• GOLD:Genomes OnLine Database
• The Genome News Network
• NCBI Entrez Genome Project database
• NCBI Genome Primer
• GeneCards — an integrated database of human genes
• BBC News - Final genome 'chapter' published
• IMG (The Integrated Microbial Genomes system) — for genome analysis by the DOE-JGI
• GeKnome Technologies Next-Gen Sequencing Data Analysis — next-generation sequencing data analysis for Illumina and 454 Service from GeKnome Technologies.

J. Craig Venter
Craig Venter in 2007
Born	(1946-10-14) October 14, 1946 (age 65) Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Institutions	State University of New York at Buffalo National Institutes of Health J. Craig Venter Institute
Alma mater	University of California, San Diego
Known for	DNA Human genome Metagenomics Synthetic genomics Shotgun approach to genome sequencing
Notable awards	Kistler Prize (2008), ENI award (2008), National Medal of Science (2008)
Website
J. Craig Venter Institute

John Craig Venter (born October 14, 1946) is an American biologist and entrepreneur. He is known for being one of the first to sequence the human genome^[1] and for creating the first cell with a synthetic genome.^[2][3] Venter founded Celera Genomics, TIGR (The Institute for Genomic Research) and the JCVI (J. Craig Venter Institute), and is now working at JCVI to create synthetic biological organisms. He was listed on Time magazine's 2007 and 2008 Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In 2010, the British magazine New Statesman listed Craig Venter at 14th in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".^[4]

Family and education[link]

Venter was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. In his youth, he did not take his education seriously, preferring to spend his time on the water in boats or surfing.^{[citation needed]} According to his biography, A Life Decoded, he was said to never be a terribly engaged student, having Cs and Ds on his eighth-grade report cards.^[5]

Although he was against the Vietnam War,^[6] Venter was drafted and enlisted in the United States Navy where he worked in the intensive-care ward of a field hospital.^[7] While in Vietnam, he attempted to commit suicide by swimming out to sea, but changed his mind more than a mile out.^[8] Being confronted with wounded, maimed, and dying soldiers on a daily basis instilled in him a desire to study medicine^[9] — although he later switched to biomedical research.

Venter graduated from Mills High School and began his college career at a community college, College of San Mateo in California. He received his B.S. degree in biochemistry in 1972, and his Ph.D. degree in physiology and pharmacology in 1975, both from the University of California, San Diego. At UCSD, he studied under biochemist Nathan O. Kaplan.^[10] and married former Ph.D. candidate Barbara Rae.^{[11][12][13][14]} After working as an associate professor, and later as full professor, at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he joined the National Institutes of Health in 1984.

In Buffalo, he divorced Dr. Rae-Venter and married his student, Claire M. Fraser,^[12] remaining married to her until 2005.^[15] In late 2008 he married Heather Kowalski.^[16] They live in La Jolla in San Diego, California where Venter gut-renovated a $6 million home.^[16]

Venter himself recognized ADHD behavior in his adolescene, and later found ADHD-linked genes in his own DNA.^[17]

Discovery[link]

While at the NIH, Venter learned of a technique for rapidly identifying all of the mRNAs present in a cell and began to use it to identify human brain genes. The short cDNA sequence fragments discovered by this method are called expressed sequence tags (ESTs) a name coined by Anthony Kerlavage at The Institute for Genomic Research. The NIH initially led an effort to patent these gene fragments, in which Venter coincidentally and controversially became involved.^{[18][improper synthesis?]} The NIH later withdrew the patent applications, following public outcry. Subsequent court cases declared that ESTs were not directly patentable.^[19]

Human Genome Project[link]

Venter was passionate about the power of genomics to radically transform healthcare. Venter believed that shotgun sequencing was the fastest and most effective way to get useful human genome data.^[20] The method was controversial, however, since some geneticists felt it would not be accurate enough for a genome as complicated as that of humans.^{[21][not in citation given]} Frustrated with what Venter viewed as the slow pace of progress in the Human Genome project, and unable to get funds for his ideas, he sought funding from the private sector to fund Celera Genomics.^[22] The goal of the company was to sequence the entire human genome and release it into the public domain for non-commercial use in much less time and for much less cost than the public human genome project. The company planned to monetize their work by creating a value-added database of genomic data to which users could subscribe for a fee. The goal consequently put pressure on the public genome program and spurred several groups to redouble their efforts to produce the full sequence. DNA from five demographically different individuals was used by Celera to generate the sequence of the human genome; one of the individuals was Venter himself. In 2000, Venter and Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Public Genome Project jointly made the announcement of the mapping of the human genome, a full three years ahead of the expected end of the Public Genome Program. The announcement was made along with US President Bill Clinton, and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.^[23] Venter and Collins thus shared an award for "Biography of the Year" from A&E Network.^[24] Celera published the first Human Genome in the journal Science, and was soon followed by a Human Genome Project Publication in Nature.^[25][26] Despite some claims that shotgun sequencing was in some ways less accurate than the clone-by-clone method chosen by the Human Genome Project,^[27] the technique became widely accepted by the scientific community and is still the de facto standard used today.

Although Celera was originally set to sequence a composite of DNA samples, partway through the sequencing, Venter switched the samples for his own DNA.^[28]

After contributing to the Human Genome, and its release into the public domain, Venter was fired by Celera in early 2002.^[29] According to his biography, Venter was ready to leave Celera, and was fired due to conflict with the main investor, Tony White, that had existed since day one of the project. Venter writes that his main goal was always to accelerate science and thereby discovery, and he only sought help from the corporate world when he couldn't find funding in the public sector.

Global Ocean Sampling Expedition[link]

The Global Ocean Sampling Expedition (GOS) is an ocean exploration genome project with the goal of assessing the genetic diversity in marine microbial communities and to understand their role in nature's fundamental processes. Begun as a Sargasso Sea pilot sampling project in August 2003, Craig Venter announced the full Expedition on 4 March 2004. The project, which used Craig Venter's personal yacht, Sorcerer II, started in Halifax, Canada, circumnavigated the globe and returned to the U.S. in January 2006.^[30]

Synthetic Genomics[link]

Venter is currently the president of the J. Craig Venter Institute, which conducts research in synthetic biology. In June 2005, he co-founded Synthetic Genomics, a firm dedicated to using modified microorganisms to produce clean fuels and biochemicals. In July 2009, ExxonMobil announced a $600 million collaboration with Synthetic Genomics to research and develop next-generation biofuels.^[31]

Venter is seeking to patent the first life form created by humanity, possibly to be named Mycoplasma laboratorium.^[32] There is speculation that this line of research could lead to producing bacteria that have been engineered to perform specific reactions, for example, produce fuels, make medicines, combat global warming, and so on.^[33]

In May 2010, a team of scientists led by Venter became the first to successfully create what was described as "synthetic life".^[34][35] This was done by synthesizing a very long DNA molecule containing an entire bacterium genome, and introducing this into another cell, analogous to the accomplishment of Eckard Wimmer's group, who synthesized and ligated an RNA virus genome and "booted" it in cell lysate.^[36] The single-celled organism contains four "watermarks"^[37] written into its DNA to identify it as synthetic and to help trace its descendants. The watermarks include

1. Code table for entire alphabet with punctuations
2. Names of 46 contributing scientists
3. Three quotations
4. The web address for the cell.^[38]

Designed coverage[link]

Venter has been the subject of several biography books, several scientific documentary books, TV documentaries, numerous magazine articles, and many speeches.

Venter is a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's Advisory Board.^[39]

This section may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines. Please help by editing the article to make improvements to the overall structure. (October 2009)

Venter has been the subject of articles in several magazines, including Wired,^[40] The Economist,^[41] Australian science magazine Cosmos,^[42][43] and The Atlantic.^[44] Additionally, he was featured on The Colbert Report on both February 27, 2007, and October 30, 2007.

Venter appeared in the "Evolution" episode of the documentary television series Understanding.

On May 16, 2004, Venter gave the commencement speech at Boston University.^[45]

In a 2007 interview with New Scientist when asked "Assuming you can make synthetic bacteria, what will you do with them?", Venter replied:

Over the next 20 years, synthetic genomics is going to become the standard for making anything. The chemical industry will depend on it. Hopefully, a large part of the energy industry will depend on it. We really need to find an alternative to taking carbon out of the ground, burning it, and putting it into the atmosphere. That is the single biggest contribution I could make.

Furthermore it suggests that one of the main purposes for creating synthetic bacteria would be to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels through bioremediation.^[46]

On May 10, 2007, Venter was awarded an honorary doctorate from Arizona State University.,^[47] and on October 24 of the same year, he received an honorary doctorate from Imperial College London.^[48]

He was on the 2007 Time 100 most influential people in the world list made by Time magazine. In 2007 he also received the Golden Eurydice Award for contributions to Biophilosophy.

On September 4, 2007, a team led by Venter published the first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of an individual human — Venter's own DNA sequence.^[49]

On December 4, 2007, Venter gave the Dimbleby lecture for the BBC in London. In February 2008, he gave a speech about his current work at the TED conference.^[50]

Venter delivered the 2008 convocation speech for Faculty of Science honours and specialization students at the University of Alberta. A transcription of the speech is available here.^[51]

Dr. Venter was featured in Time Magazine's "The Top 10 Everything of 2008" article. Number three in 2008's Top 10 Scientific Discoveries was a piece outlining his work stitching together the 582,000 base pairs necessary to invent the genetic information for a whole new bacterium.^[52]

For an episode aired on July 27, 2009, Venter was interviewed on his boat by BBC One for the first episode of TV show Bang Goes the Theory.

On May 8, 2010, Venter received an honorary doctor of science degree from Clarkson University for his work on the human genome.^[53]

On May 20, 2010, Venter announced the creation of first self-replicating semi-synthetic bacterial cell.^[54]

On November 21, 2010 Steve Kroft profiled J. Craig Venter and his research on 60 minutes.

On April 21, 2011, Venter received the 2011 Benjamin Rush Medal from William & Mary School of Law.^[55]

In the June 2011 issue of Men's Journal, Venter was featured as the "Survival Skills" celebrity of the month. He shared various anecdotes, and advice, including stories of his time in Vietnam, as well as mentioning a bout with melanoma upon his back, which subsequently resulted in "giving a pound of flesh" to surgery.^[56]

Individual human genome sequenced[link]

On September 4, 2007, a team led by Sam Levy published the first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of an individual human—Venter's own DNA sequence.^[49] Some of the sequences in Venter's genome are associated with wet earwax,^[57] increased risk of antisocial behavior, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases.^[58] This publication was especially interesting since it contained a diploid instead of a haploid genome and shows promise for personalized medicine via genotyping.^{[original research?]} This genome, dubbed HuRef by Levy and others, was a landmark accomplishment and as of mid-2010 is probably the highest quality personal genome sequence yet completed.

The Human Reference Genome Browser is a web application for the navigation and analysis of Venter's recently published genome. The HuRef database consists of approximately 32 million DNA reads sequenced using microfluidic Sanger sequencing, assembled into 4,528 scaffolds and 4.1 million DNA variations identified by genome analysis. These variants include single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), block substitutions, short and large indels, and structural variations like insertions, deletions, inversions and copy number changes.

The browser enables scientists to navigate the HuRef genome assembly and sequence variations, and to compare it with the NCBI human build 36 assembly in the context of the NCBI and Ensembl annotations. The browser provides a comparative view between NCBI and HuRef consensus sequences, the sequence multi-alignment of the HuRef assembly, Ensembl and dbSNP annotations, HuRef variants, and the underlying variant evidence and functional analysis. The interface also represents the haplotype blocks from which diploid genome sequence can be inferred and the relation of variants to gene annotations. The display of variants and gene annotations are linked to external public resources including dbSNP, Ensembl, Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) and Gene Ontology (GO).

Users can search the HuRef genome using HUGO gene names, Ensembl and dbSNP identifiers, HuRef contig or scaffold locations, or NCBI chromosome locations. Users can then easily and quickly browse any genomic region via the simple and intuitive pan and zoom controls; furthermore, data relevant to specific loci can be exported for further analysis.

Media coverage[link]

Venter has been the subject of several biography books, several scientific documentary books, TV documentaries, numerous magazine articles, and many speeches.

Venter is a member of the USA Science and Engineering Festival's Advisory Board.^[59]

This section may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines. Please help by editing the article to make improvements to the overall structure. (October 2009)

Venter has been the subject of articles in several magazines, including Wired,^[40] The Economist,^[41] Australian science magazine Cosmos,^[60][61] and The Atlantic.^[44] Additionally, he was featured on The Colbert Report on both February 27, 2007, and October 30, 2007.

Venter appeared in the "Evolution" episode of the documentary television series Understanding.

On May 16, 2004, Venter gave the commencement speech at Boston University.^[45]

In a 2007 interview with New Scientist when asked "Assuming you can make synthetic bacteria, what will you do with them?", Venter replied:

Over the next 20 years, synthetic genomics is going to become the standard for making anything. The chemical industry will depend on it. Hopefully, a large part of the energy industry will depend on it. We really need to find an alternative to taking carbon out of the ground, burning it, and putting it into the atmosphere. That is the single biggest contribution I could make.

Furthermore it suggests that one of the main purposes for creating synthetic bacteria would be to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels through bioremediation.^[62]

On May 10, 2007, Venter was awarded an honorary doctorate from Arizona State University.,^[47] and on October 24 of the same year, he received an honorary doctorate from Imperial College London.^[48]

He was on the 2007 Time 100 most influential people in the world list made by Time magazine. In 2007 he also received the Golden Eurydice Award for contributions to Biophilosophy.

On September 4, 2007, a team led by Venter published the first complete (six-billion-letter) genome of an individual human — Venter's own DNA sequence.^[49]

On December 4, 2007, Venter gave the Dimbleby lecture for the BBC in London. In February 2008, he gave a speech about his current work at the TED conference.^[63]

Venter delivered the 2008 convocation speech for Faculty of Science honours and specialization students at the University of Alberta. A transcription of the speech is available here.^[64]

Dr. Venter was featured in Time Magazine's "The Top 10 Everything of 2008" article. Number three in 2008's Top 10 Scientific Discoveries was a piece outlining his work stitching together the 582,000 base pairs necessary to invent the genetic information for a whole new bacterium.^[65]

For an episode aired on July 27, 2009, Venter was interviewed on his boat by BBC One for the first episode of TV show Bang Goes the Theory.

On May 8, 2010, Venter received an honorary doctor of science degree from Clarkson University for his work on the human genome.^[66]

On May 20, 2010, Venter announced the creation of first self-replicating semi-synthetic bacterial cell.^[67]

On November 21, 2010 Steve Kroft profiled J. Craig Venter and his research on 60 minutes.

On April 21, 2011, Venter received the 2011 Benjamin Rush Medal from William & Mary School of Law.^[68]

In the June 2011 issue of Men's Journal, Venter was featured as the "Survival Skills" celebrity of the month. He shared various anecdotes, and advice, including stories of his time in Vietnam, as well as mentioning a bout with melanoma upon his back, which subsequently resulted in "giving a pound of flesh" to surgery.^[69]

Selected bibliography[link]

Venter is an ISI highly cited researcher and has authored over 200 publications in scientific journals.^[70]

• Fleischmann, Robert D.; Adams, Mark D.; White, Owen; Clayton, Rebecca; . . . Venter, J. Craig (July 28, 1995). "Whole-Genome Random Sequencing and Assembly of Haemophilus influenzae Rd". Science (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science) 269 (5223): 496–512. Bibcode 1995Sci...269..496F. DOI:10.1126/science.7542800. PMID 7542800. 
• Tomb, Jean-F.; White, Owen; Kerlavage, Anthony R.; Clayton, Rebecca A.; Sutton, Granger G.; Fleischmann, Robert D.; . . . Venter, J. Craig (August 7, 1997). "The complete genome sequence of the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori". Nature (London, England: Nature Publishing Group) 388 (6642): 539–47. DOI:10.1038/41483. PMID 9252185. 
• Adams, Mark D.; Celniker, Susan E.; Holt, Robert A.; Evans, Cheryl A.; Goccayne, Jeannine A.; Amanatides, Peter G.; . . . Venter, J. Craig (March 24, 2000). "The genome sequence of Drosophila melanogaster". Science (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science) 287 (5461): 2185–95. Bibcode 2000Sci...287.2185.. DOI:10.1126/science.287.5461.2185. PMID 10731132. 
• Venter, J. Craig; et al. (February 16, 2001). "The Sequence of the Human Genome". Science (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science) 291 (5507): 1304–51. Bibcode 2001Sci...291.1304V. DOI:10.1126/science.1058040. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 11181995. 
• Venter, J. Craig; Remington, Karin; Heidelberg, John F.; Halpern, Aaron L.; Rusch, Doug; Eisen, Jonathan A.; Wu, Dongying; Paulsen, Ian et al. (April 2, 2004). "Environmental Genome Shotgun Sequencing of the Sargasso Sea". Science (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science) 304 (5667): 66–74. Bibcode 2004Sci...304...66V. DOI:10.1126/science.1093857. PMID 15001713. 
• Rusch, Donald B.; Halpern, Aaron L.; Sutton, Granger; Heidelberg, Karla B.; Williamson, Shannon; Yooseph, Shibu; Wu, Dongying; . . . Venter, J. Craig (March 13, 2007). "The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling expedition: Northwest Atlantic through Eastern Tropical Pacific". PLoS Biology (Public Library of Science) 5 (3): 398–431. DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050077. PMC 1821060. PMID 17355176. //www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1821060. 
• Yooseph, Shibu; Sutton, Granger; Rusch, Donald B.; Halpern, Aaron L.; Williamson, Shannon; Remington, Karin; Eisen, Jonathan A.; . . . Venter, J. Craig (March 13, 2007). "The Sorcerer II Global Ocean Sampling Expedition: Expanding the Universe of Protein Families". PLoS Biology (Public Library of Science) 5 (3): 432–466. DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050016. PMC 1821046. PMID 17355171. //www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1821046. 
• Venter, J. Craig (October 18, 2007). A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life. New York, New York: Viking Adult. ISBN 0-670-06358-4. OCLC 165048736. 

View also[link]

	Biography portal
	Evolutionary biology portal
	Molecular and cellular biology portal
	Biotechnology portal
	Marine life portal
	Nautical portal

• Artificial gene synthesis
• Full genome sequencing
• Genetic testing
• Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
• Metagenomics
• Personal genomics
• Pharmacogenomics
• Predictive medicine

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Ewing-Duncan, David (2006). Masterminds: Genius, DNA, and the Quest to Rewrite Life. New York, New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 978-0-00-716184-3. 
• Shreeve, James (2004). The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World. New York, New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-40629-8. 
• Sulston, John (2002). The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics and the Human Genome. Washington, DC, USA: Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 0-309-08409-1. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Craig Venter

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Craig Venter

Wikinews has related news: US scientist says he created first 'artificial life form'

• J. Craig Venter Institute
• Sorcerer II Expedition
• Synthetic Genomics
• The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR)
• HuRef Genome Browser

Media[link]

• Craig Venter at TED Conferences
• Craig Venter on Charlie Rose
• Craig Venter collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Cracking the code to life, The Guardian, October 8, 2007
• Craig Venter interview, Wired Science, December 2007 (video)
• Radio interview on Philosophy Talk
• Video of interview/discussion with Craig Venter by Carl Zimmer on Bloggingheads.tv
• Craig Venter: A voyage of DNA, genes and the sea – TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference (video)
• Webcast of Venter talk 'Genomics: From humans to the environment' at The James Martin 21st Century School
• The Richard Dimbleby Lecture 2007 – Dr. J. Craig Venter – A DNA Driven World
• A short course on synthetic genomics. Edge Master Class 2009
• "J. Craig Venter: Designing Life". 60 Minutes. 2010-11-21. CBS. http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/.