During this presentation from ASHG 2015, Maria Nattestad of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory described the study of a Her2-amplified breast cancer cell line using long-read sequencing from PacBio. With reads as long as 71 kb, she was able to characterize extensive and complex rearrangements and found more than 11,000 structural variants. She also used the Iso-Seq method to find gene fusions, including some novel ones.
Yunfei Guo, from the University of Southern California, presents his ASHG 2015 poster on a de novo assembly of a diploid Asian genome. The uniform coverage of long-read sequencing helped access regions previously unresolvable due to high GC bias or long repeats. The assembly allowed scientists to fill some 400 gaps in the latest human reference genome, including some as long as 50 kb.
Ho Yung Shwen presented this talk about a new genome assembly of Chenopodium quinoa, the native South American plant known for its ability to grow in harsh environments. He used SMRT Sequencing and other tools to characterize the organism’s allotetraploid genome and to infer new information about the plant’s unknown diploid ancestors
See what PacBio users had to say about SMRT Sequencing at the Plant and Animal Genome (PAG) Conference in San Diego. This brief video captures highlights from posters, presentations, and the exhibit hall. See how SMRT Sequencing benefits plant and animal scientists in their genomic investigations. [Engligh, some Mandarin]
Doreen Ware introduces her team’s new assembly of maize, built with PacBio long-read sequencing and genome maps from BioNano Genomics. With a contig N50 of nearly 10 Mb and more complete information than any previous assembly, Ware says, “This is just an amazing time to be a plant scientist.” Her presentation includes a number of highlights from the new assembly, which may help crop improvement efforts for maize.
Alan Archibald compares two new de novo PacBio pig genome assemblies to a previously released draft genome, finding significant improvement that could be important for breeding programs. In one example, he shows chromosome 1, which was split into more than 9,000 contigs in the draft genome, is now represented in just 10 contigs.
Oliver Ryder speaks about efforts to rescue the Hawaiian crow, a bird that has been extinct in the wild since 2002, and reintroduce it to its native habitat. Critical to this work is a new SMRT Sequencing reference genome assembly, which Ryder says is already one of the best avian assemblies out there. The resource may help deal with challenges like inbreeding and disease susceptibility.
In this AGBT virtual poster video, Jason Chin, a bioinformatician at PacBio, describes a polyploidy-aware de novo assembly approach called FALCON and a new algorithm, dubbed FALCON-unzip, that involves “unzipping” diploid genomes for de novo haplotype reconstructions from SMRT Sequencing data. These methods are illustrated in a studies of fungal, Arabidopsis and human datasets for the resolution of structural variation and characterization of haplotypes.
In this AGBT poster, PacBio bioinformatician Matthew Seetin presents a new assembly for Aedes aegypti cell line, the mosquito responsible for spreading viruses like Dengue and Zika. SMRT Sequencing generated a gapless assembly with a contig N50 of 1.4 Mb, compared to 82 kb in the previous assembly. The genome features a number of transposable elements and long tandem repeats.
At PAG 2017, Rockefeller University’s Erich Jarvis offered an in-depth comparison of methods for generating highly contiguous genome assemblies, using hummingbird as the basis to evaluate a number of sequencing and scaffolding technologies. Analyses include gene content, error rate, chromosome metrics, and more. Plus: a long-read look at four genes associated with vocal learning.
At PAG 2017, Rod Wing presented five new, high-quality rice genome assemblies developed with SMRT Sequencing, including one that has eight complete chromosomes including centromeres. He also offered an early look at data generated with the Sequel System for a new assembly underway. This work is done with the goal of developing rice varieties that will be better suited to feeding a rapidly growing global population.
In this PAG 2017 presentation, Ben Matthews describes a new genome assembly for Aedes aegypti, the mosquito responsible for spreading Zika virus, yellow fever, and other infectious diseases. By using PacBio long-read sequencing, scientists produced an assembly that is much more complete and contiguous than a previous assembly; 7,500 transcripts map to the new contigs but not to the old assembly. The genome is important for designing guide RNAs for CRISPR, understanding resistance to mosquito repellants, and much more.
At AGBT 2017, Margaret Roy from Calico Life Sciences discussed a de novo genome sequencing effort for the naked mole rat. This animal has a remarkably long life span and resistance to cancer, both of which make it interesting for studies of life extension. The team is using SMRT Sequencing for a more complete, contiguous assembly than the two existing short-read-based assemblies. Included: data from the Sequel System.
At AGBT 2017, Mike Schatz from Johns Hopkins University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory presented data from sequencing, assembling, and analyzing personalized, phased diploid genomes with either Illumina, 10x Genomics, and PacBio SMRT Sequencing. Compared to the short-read-based methods, PacBio data assembled in large, complete contigs and contained the broadest range of structural variants with the best resolution. Plus: unexpected translocation findings with SMRT Sequencing, validated in follow-up studies.
In this PAG 2018 presentation, Marty Badgett of PacBio, shares updates on PacBio products and performance. He highlights high-quality genome assembles for Arabidopsis, rice, and maize, the SMRTbell Express Template Prep Kit, SMRT Analysis updates, and the Iso-Seq method for RNA sequencing.