In this commentary I have only highlighted a few dimensions that comparative genomics has reached into. Looking at a PubMed search of publications with the exact combination and order of the words “comparative genomics” in the title or abstract identifies 3752 articles as of the date of this writing. The chart in Figure ​Figure22 shows the growth of this field, which at first lagged in growth relative to the same search for “genomics,” but overall tracks this more general field of research. Other dimensions of comparative genomics, beyond the three areas I touched on above, include intraindividual comparative genomics (Cheng et al. 2012; Biesecker and Spinner 2013; Watson et al. 2013), human microbiome comparative genomics (Human Microbiome Project Consortium 2012) and how comparative genomics can shed light on a multidrug-resistant bacteria spread through a hospital (Snitkin et al. 2012). Clearly, as the field of genomics continues to expand, comparative genomics will always be an essential and central enabling component to help us discover and better understand the complexities, intricacies, and interrelatedness of the genomics of life. Figure 2 A PubMed search of publications with the exact combination and order of the words “comparative genomics” in the title or abstract identifies 3752 articles. This chart shows the growth of publications in this field year-by-year, and for ... Acknowledgments This research was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health.