International Project on Vertebrate Genomes Publishes First 15 High-Quality Reference Genomes

The 10K genome (G10K) announces the official launch of a new project, the International Project on Vertebrate Genomes (VGP), and its first release of 15 new high quality reference genomes for 14 species representing the five classes of vertebrates: mammals, birds. reptiles, amphibians and fish. The mission of the VGP is to provide complete, high-quality, nearly error-free, genome assemblies of 66,000 vertebrate species on Earth, to address fundamental questions of biology, disease, and conservation.

The new sequences are stored and publicly available in the Genome Ark database, a new open source genome library generated by the G10K-VGP consortium and hosted by Amazon, and will soon be processed for gene identification. in international databases, including the Genome Navigator of the National Biotechnology Information Center (NCBI), Ensembl, and the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). The G10K-VGP consortium brought together more than 150 experts from academia, industry and government from more than 50 institutions in 12 countries to develop high-resolution genome sequencing and assembly methods that reduce costs and eliminate errors. The new VGP genomes eliminate many of these errors. For conservation efforts, these VGP genomes will be used to identify the most genetically endangered species, preserving their genetic information for the future and helping them save them from extinction. .

One of the species included in the first version is the kakapo, a flightless parrot that is found in New Zealand and is on the brink of extinction, with less than 150 individuals alive. In partnership with the Kakapo Genetic Rescue Project, G10K President Erich Jarvis, a professor at Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and his group helped sequence samples of A bird named Jane to create a quality assemblage. for his species. Jane passed away on May 17, 2018, just before the end of her genome. This first species data release is dedicated to Jane and conservation efforts around the world to preserve the Earth's biodiversity.

The 15 genomes created through VGP are proof of principle demonstrating the strength of the G10K-VGP consortium and the reliability and scalability of the new sequencing technology to sequence all vertebrate genomes. These genomes are currently the most complete versions of their species to date:

• Mammals (4 species)
• Reptiles (1 species)
• Amphibians (1 species)
• Birds (3 species, 4 genomes)
  • In addition to kakapo (Strigops habroptilus), the VGP sequenced species from two other orders of birds to represent the only three vocal learning birds among more than 40 avian orders
  • A male and female zebra (Taeniopygia guttata), the most often studied vocal learner
  • Anna's Hummingbird (Calypte anna), belonging to the smallest group of birds

• Fish (5 species) These species represent a great diversity of characters and are used to study the evolution and the adaptation of the species:
  • Flier Cichlid (Archocentrus centrarchus), originally from Central America
  • Happy East (Astatotilapia calliptera), also a cichlid fish from Lake Malawi, Africa
  • Climbing pole (Anabas testudineus), originating in the inland waters of South-East Asia
  • Eel tire track (Mastacembelus armatus), native to the rivers of Southeast Asia
  • Cling-nosed fish (Gouania willdenowi), native to the northern coast of the Mediterranean, from Syria to Spain

Over the last three years, the G10K-VGP consortium has worked behind the scenes to compare all major sequencing and analysis technologies on a few animals to advance and develop the technologies required to create platinum-level genomes. better quality. They and others have found that long-read sequencing technologies always give better results than with short readings and that technologies that measure long-range genomic interactions are needed for " assemble these DNA readings into whole chromosomes. In addition, they found that the common practice of fusing paternal and maternal chromosomes (haplotypes) into a single genome caused many errors. Therefore, they now assemble the paternal and maternal DNA of an individual separately (called phasing).

Explore more:
Sequencing of the Endangered Kakapo Genome