The SMRTbell gDNA Sample Amplification Kit enables whole genome amplification starting from as little as 5 ng of genomic DNA. It’s one of the questions we hear most often from scientists working with small organisms: Is it possible to generate truly high-quality, long-read data from minuscule amounts of DNA? With our new kit for ultra-low DNA input projects, the answer is: Absolutely! The new workflow dramatically reduces the requirements for DNA quantity. Now, scientists need only 5 ng of genomic DNA to kick off a SMRT Sequencing project — that’s less than 2% of the starting volume needed for our…
Tackling larger and larger genomes has been an attractive pursuit for many scientists as sequencing technologies improve at rapid rates. But what about the other end of the spectrum — the tiny organisms that comprise much of the diversity of life? An obvious obstacle to decoding the DNA of small organisms such as insects, nematodes and other arthropods is collecting enough of it to actually sequence (usually multiple micrograms worth). Until recently, the solution was to pool DNA from many of these tiny creatures to create a representative sample, and extrapolate the biology of the individual constituents from there. But…
It was the coolest critter Erin Bernberg (@ErinBernberg) had ever worked with – quite literally. The senior scientist at the University of Delaware Sequencing and Genotyping Center, a PacBio certified service provider, received a shipment of tiny, live ice worms from Washington State University and immediately faced several challenges. How would she get them out of their ice cubes? How would she isolate DNA from the delicate, dark pigmented creatures? And would she be able to extract enough DNA to sequence? Thanks to the new PacBio low DNA input protocol, the answer to the last question was yes. In fact,…
Anopheles coluzzii mosquito UPDATED January 18, 2019 This paper is now available at Genes. ORIGINAL POST December 19, 2018 High-quality reference and de novo genomes have been celebrated by geneticists, population biologists and conservationists alike, but it’s been a dream deferred for entomologists and others grappling with limited DNA samples, due to previous relatively high DNA input requirements (~5 μg for standard library protocol). A new low-input protocol now makes it possible to create high-quality de novo genome assemblies from just 100 ng of starting genomic DNA, without the need for time-consuming inbreeding or pooling strategies. The targeted release date for…