Black death unravelled
researchers have sequenced the plague bacterium's genome. Knowing the plague pathogen's genome sequence should speed the search for vaccines and treatments. The 4.65 million dna letters will be "the basis of all future work', on plague, says Julian Parkhill of the uk-based Sanger Centre.
The genome sequence will be critical in the design of antibiotics and vaccines to treat the disease. It is a yardstick against which potential new plague threats