Recent spectacular advances in the technologies and strategies for DNA sequencing have profoundly accelerated the detailed analysis of genomes from myriad organisms. The past few years alone have seen the publication of near-complete or draft versions of the genome sequence of several well-studied, multicellular organisms - most notably, the human. As well as providing data of fundamental biological significance, these landmark accomplishments have yielded important strategic insights that are guiding current and future genome-sequencing projects.