The public Human Genome Project also funded mapping and sequencing the genome of yeast. The organism was baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a single-celled eukaryote widely used in genetics, cell biology, and biotechnology.
Yeast was a valuable companion project because its cells share many fundamental processes with human cells, including DNA replication, chromosome maintenance, and cell division. Unlike bacteria, yeast has a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles, making it a useful model for studying eukaryotic biology while remaining relatively easy to grow and manipulate.
The public HGP’s wider program was broader than sequencing human DNA alone. It also supported genome work on organisms such as the worm and fruit fly, along with databases, technology development, bioinformatics, and ethics research. These model-organism genomes gave researchers comparison points for identifying conserved genes and biological mechanisms.
Yeast is sometimes confused with an alga or protozoan because all are microscopic or simple organisms. The key distinction is that yeast is a fungus. Its genome sequence was completed in 1996, before the human project was formally declared complete in 2003.