A History of Genomics across Species, Communities and Projects

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Introduction

   • Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

   Pages 1-37Open Access

3. The Diversity of Genomics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 39-39

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4. The Diversity of Genomics

   1. Distributed and Concentrated Strategies in the Sequencing of the Yeast Genome

      • Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

      Pages 41-77Open Access

   2. The Human Genome Project(s)

      • Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

      Pages 79-116Open Access

5. Communities and Reference Genomes

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 117-117

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6. Communities and Reference Genomes

   1. The Funnelling Effect of the Sanger Institute

      • Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

      Pages 119-157Open Access

   2. The Pig Community and Their Reference Genome

      • Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

      Pages 159-201Open Access

7. Contextualising and Enhancing Reference Genomes

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 203-203

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8. Contextualising and Enhancing Reference Genomes

   1. Making Reference Genomes Useful: Annotation

      • Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

      Pages 205-254Open Access

   2. Improving and Going Beyond Reference Genomes

      • Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

      Pages 255-326Open Access

   3. Conclusion

      • Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

      Pages 327-353Open Access

9. Back Matter

   Pages 355-380

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This open access book offers a comprehensive overview of the history of genomics across three different species and four decades, from the 1980s to the recent past. It takes an inclusive approach in order to capture not only the international initiatives to map and sequence the genomes of various organisms, but also the work of smaller-scale institutions engaged in the mapping and sequencing of yeast, human and pig DNA. In doing so, the authors expand the historiographical lens of genomics from a focus on large-scale projects to other forms of organisation. They show how practices such as genome mapping, sequence assembly and annotation are as essential as DNA sequencing in the history of genomics, and argue that existing depictions of genomics are too closely associated with the Human Genome Project. 

Exploring the use of genomic tools by biochemists, cell biologists, and medical and agriculturally-oriented geneticists, this book portrays the history of genomics as inseparably entangled with the day-to-day practices and objectives of these communities. The authors also uncover often forgotten actors such as the European Commission, a crucial funder and forger of collaborative networks undertaking genomic projects. In examining historical trajectories across species, communities and projects, the book provides new insights on genomics, its dramatic expansion during the late twentieth-century and its developments in the twenty-first century. Offering the first extensive critical examination of the nature and historicity of reference genomes, this book demonstrates how their affordances and limitations are shaped by the involvement or absence of particular communities in their production. 

• Open Access
• Genome mapping
• Yeast
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae
• Human DNA
• Pig DNA
• Sus scrofa
• High throughput sequencing technology
• Whole-genome projects
• Sequence assembly
• Annotation
• European Commission

“A comparative historical analysis of the breadth of genome projects set up and carried out around the Human Genome Project is so far missing. A History of Genomics across Species, Communities and Projects fills this gap. This comparative study of yeast, pig, and human genome projects is a well-researched and impeccable piece of socio-historical scholarship that gives a balanced picture of the coming into being of genomics, a new field of research with a huge future impact on the biological and biomedical sciences, and on society as a whole.” (Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Germany.)
“The history of genomics, García-Sancho and Lowe argue, is more than just the history of the Human Genome Project. Diving deeply into the history of the yeast and pig genomic project next to those of the human, the authors show how multifaceted and varied the field of genomics is. What is regarded as a reference sequence, how it is turned into a useful resource and who participates in the effort changes from species to species. These insights also change our understanding of the Human Genome Project. The book is an important addition to the historiography of genomics.” (Soraya de Chadarevian, University of California, USA)

• Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

  Miguel García-Sancho, James Lowe

Miguel García-Sancho is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. He led the project ‘TRANSGENE: Medical Translation in the History of Modern Genomics’, with funding from the European Research Council.

James Lowe is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. He is a historian and philosopher of biology who worked on the European Research Council-funded project ‘TRANSGENE: Medical Translation in the History of Modern Genomics’.