Genome sequencing is the process of determining the order of nucleotide bases - A, C, G, and T - that make up an organism's DNA. Shotgun sequencing involves randomly breaking the genome into small fragments, sequencing those pieces, and reassembling the sequence by identifying overlapping regions. It was originally used by Sanger to sequence small genomes like viruses and bacteria. There are two main methods - hierarchical shotgun sequencing for larger genomes containing repeats, and whole genome shotgun sequencing for smaller genomes.