The 1002 Yeast Genomes Project:
A Framework for Genome-Wide Association Studies

Project Scope and Overview


The 1002 Yeast Genomes project first began as the ambitious next step to understanding the important model species Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The project represents the efforts of a collaboration between Joseph Schacherer’s laboratory at the Université de Strasbourg, Gianni Liti’s laboratory at the Institute for Research on Cancer and Aging (IRCAN) in Nice, as well as Genoscope and has been funded largely by France Génomique. The primary goal of this project was to obtain the most comprehensive genomic data set to date, on a single species of yeast, and ultimately provide the most extensive view of the genetic and phenotypic diversity within this model species to date. In keeping with the theme of other recent genome sequencing endeavors (including the 1000 Genomes cataloging genetic vacation in humans and the 1001 Genomes focused on Arabidopsis thaliana), the project was originally slated to include 1002 strains from diverse global locations (including Australia, Europe, Russia, Vietnam, and South Africa), as well as a variety of ecological sources, such as dairy products, trees, insects, flowers, fruit and wine. However, at this point we have a total of 1011 whole genome sequences, which are soon to be available.