At the beginning of 1989, a consortium of 35 European laboratories started to systematically determine the sequence of the genome of the baker's yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, within the framework of the European Community's Biotechnology Action Program. The project, initiated by André Goffeau, was unique in several aspects: first, the choice to sequence the yeast genome for its intrinsic interest rather than to regard yeast as a methodological step toward sequencing the human genome; second, the decision to start sequencing an entire chromosome using available technology rather than putting effort on developing or optimizing technologies; third, the decision to share the sequencing task between traditional laboratories interested in yeast genetics and molecular biology rather than to select and equip a large “yeast genomic center.” For these reasons, and perhaps others, few outside of the consortium regarded the enterprise very seriously. They were wrong. Last year, the sequence of chromosome III of...
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Bernard Dujon (1993) studied this question.