The HGSC has sequenced the genome of the rhesus monkey (rhesus macaque, Macaca mulatta). The rhesus macaque is an Old World monkey. This primate model organism, while more distant from humans than chimpanzees or orangutans, is important for study of human disease due to their genetic, physiologic and metabolic similarity to humans. Rhesus monkeys are used for essential research in neuroscience, behavioral biology, reproductive physiology, endocrinology, cardiovascular studies, pharmacology and other areas.

The Macaque Genome Sequencing Consortium is led by the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center, and in collaboration with the J. Craig Venter Institute Joint Technology Center, and the Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University, St. Louis. The goals of the project are to produce a seven-fold WGS shotgun assembly, using small insert plasmids as well as large insert clone ends from BACs, Fosmids, and 50kb linking clones. There will be finishing and BAC sequencing components of the project to investigate interesting regions for human diseases and to highlight primate evolution.

The sequencing and comparative analysis is funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), National Institutes of Health (NIH).