It took John and his team over 12 years to map? and sequence the nematode genome, but, finally, the first DNA sequence of an animal was published for all the world to see in 1998. This work on the nematode worm formed a crucial model for sequencing the human genome and in 2000, a draft sequence of the human genome was published in Nature. It was the result of over 50 years of DNA and genetic science, and the collaboration of 20 scientific centers around the world.