A simplified strategy for sequencing large genomes has been developed. Clone-Array Pooled Shotgun Sequencing (CAPSS) is based upon pooling rows and columns of arrayed genomic clones, for shotgun library construction. Random sequences are accumulated and the data are assembled by sequential comparison of rows and columns, to resolve the sequence of clones at points of intersection. Compared to either a clone-by-clone approach or whole genome shotgun sequencing, CAPSS requires relatively few library constructions and only minimal computational power for a complete genome assembly. The strategy is suitable for sequencing large genomes for which there are no sequence-ready maps, but for which relatively high resolution STS maps and highly redundant BAC libraries are available. It is immediately applicable to the sequencing of mouse, rat, zebra fish and other important genomes, and can be managed in a cooperative fashion to take advantage of the distributed international DNA sequencing capacity.