We made the unexpected discovery of 10 mutations accumulated in strain W3110 after Kohara et al. generated the lambda clone library that was sequenced. This highlights the ability of CGS to reveal unexpected results and the rapid degeneracy of strains under some kinds of storage conditions. Strains with the same name (e.g. W3110, MG1655) often differ depending on their source and storage conditions, so sequenced strains should only be obtained from the laboratories that sequenced them or their designated depositories.