NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Pacific Biosciences of California announced today that the Genome 10K (G10K) and Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) initiatives plan to use SMRT Sequencing technology.
Neurobiologist Erich Jarvis — co-founder of the B10K project and co-leader of the G10K initiative — has ordered two Sequel systems and plans to order three more, PacBio said. The machines will be used to aid in the initiatives' vertebrate genome assembly programs. Several of the initiatives' other leading researchers — including Harris Lewin at University of California, Davis, Richard Durbin at the Sanger Institute, Gene Myers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, and BGI's Guojie Zhang — will also use their Sequel systems to create de novo assembled vertebrate genomes, the company added.
The G10K project was established in 2009 to sequence the genomes of 10,000 vertebrate species by 2020. The B10K project was launched in 2015 to generate representative draft genome sequences for all existing 10,500 bird species.
The groups have collaborated with each other, but they were using short-read technologies for their early phases. They now intend to use the Sequel systems to sequence the genomes of several thousand vertebrate species, and will perform chromosome-level scaffolding with complementary approaches, such as BioNano Genomics' optical genome mapping, Dovetail's proximity in vitro genome mapping, and Phase Genomics Hi-C mapping.
BioNano also said today that Jarvis has purchased its Irys next-generation mapping system for use in the G10K and B10K projects. Combining PacBio's sequencing technology with BioNano's hybrid scaffolding software yields high-quality reference genomes, the company said.
"We are delighted to support this new era of improved genome assemblies for the world's diverse species, and look forward to working with Dr. Jarvis and the other members of the G10K and B10K projects to support their efforts to create high-quality reference genomes," said PacBio CSO Jonas Korlach in a statement.