Reference Genome Sequence Updates: Texel Improvements and Rambouillet Progress

The latest methods for producing and analyzing long reads are finally improving the quality of draft genome assemblies beyond the methods employed for early Sanger sequencing.  We have applied these methods to improve the existing genome of the Texel sheep and are in the process of producing a de novo assembly from a single Rambouillet ewe.  The Texel ram Pacific Biosciences data was used with the PBJelly software to improve Oar_v3.1.  The improved assembly that has been submitted to GenBank has improved contiguity and genomic representation.  Further efforts to produce a high quality reference genome have shifted focus to the Rambouillet where we have completed sequence production using the Pacific Biosciences technology, producing 200 Gb of sequence with subread length of 12.6 kb N50 length and 8.9 kb mean length.  Error correction of the reads using the Pacific Biosciences data is in progress. 

We will also discuss ongoing research with other methods to approach finished quality genomes without using traditional expensive and manually intensive finishing efforts.