Outlook

Abstract

Where may new regulatory elements and RNA motifs be identified in the future? Though the concrete areas may be difficult to predict, genomics is changing everything. We are experiencing the advent of full genomic sequences for nearly 50 prokaryotic genomes and for about further 150 microbial genomes, the sequencing is in progress; many of these will be finished within the next 2 years. Complete eukaryotic genomes from _{C.elegans, A.thaliana, Drosophila} and even man are almost finished—even if in the rush among competing scientists and consortia to be the first, these eucaryotic genome sequences will still require numerous corrections and updates (detailed genome sequencing lists and literature references, both continously updated, are available at http://www.tigr.org/tdb). This stock of new genome data will doubtless dramatically increase the number of potential candidate structures as well as, after some time, confirmed regulatory RNA motifs and elements.