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Pacific Biosciences to Support Sequencing of California Species for the Earth BioGenome Project
Company will sponsor sequencing and assembly at UC Davis to produce reference-grade genomes for several ecologically important organisms in the state of
About this update from Pacific Biosciences Of California, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Company will sponsor sequencing and assembly at UC Davis to produce reference-grade genomes for several ecologically important organisms in the state of California\nMENLO PARK, Calif. and DAVIS, Calif., Feb. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) and Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (Nasdaq:PACB), a leading provider of high-quality sequencing of genomes, transcriptomes and epigenomes, today announced that PacBio will support the sequencing of ecologically important organisms in the state of California through the EBP. The effort will be centered at the University of California, Davis.\n Launched in 2018, the EBP aims to sequence the DNA of all the planet’s eukaryote biodiversity, some 1.5 million known species, over a period of 10 years. Currently, fewer than 4,500 – or about 0.3 per cent of all known eukaryotic species – have had their genome sequenced, with approximately 100 at reference quality. PacBio will sponsor the sequencing for several of these organisms, including terrestrial and marine invertebrate species important to the biodiversity of California, such as the Western pygmy blue butterfly, one of the smallest butterflies in the world and the smallest in North America, and the Pacific blood star, an iconic California sea star with an enigmatic distribution and a representative of a genus of sea stars that appears to be less sensitive to the devastating wasting disease outbreak along the West Coast. In order to provide scientists with reference-grade genome assemblies for these organisms, the UC Davis Genome Center, a world-class facility for genomics research and training, will use the PacBio Sequel II System to generate HiFi reads, which provide highly accurate, long-read sequence data. “There is growing evidence that sequencing with PacBio long HiFi reads provides powerful datasets for generating reference-grade assemblies,” said Harris Lewin, PhD, Distinguished Professor at UC Davis and chair of the EBP. “We are grateful to PacBio for supporting these important conservation efforts and we look forward to producing genomic resources that will be invaluable not only for California-based scientists but also for scientists around the world.” Often only a single, fragmented draft genome is available for a species, genus, or even family, which limits the potential for conservation and ecol...