Shotgun approach bags the fruit fly genome

When it comes to whole genomes, the bigger they are, the easier they seem to fall.

Scientists announced the completion of the largest genome yet decoded, that of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, last week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.

Using a controversial approach called shotgun sequencing, a team at Celera Genomics in Rockville, Md.,