DNA pioneer Watson undergoes mass genome sequencing

The U.K.’s Guardian (4/17, Randerson) reports that the "era of mass genome sequencing to assess risks of genetic disease comes a step closer today with the publication of" a second "human genome sequence," according to an article published in today’s issue of Nature. Professor James Watson, who along with "Francis Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953," was "[t]he subject of the latest genome sequencing," which "will tell the scientist much about his own genetic makeup." Jonathan Rothberg, of 454 Life Sciences, said, "Jim Watson is one person. We have to do this many times to correlate those changes in his genome to how his children will be predisposed to disease." But "[o]ver the next 10 years and the next 10,000 genomes we will be able to have those correlations and we will be able to do amazing things," he added.