The Versatility of Next-Generation Mapping: An Encyclopedia of Genomes

Genomics is an important field which has found many applications related to medical diagnostics, production of reference genome assemblies, understanding trait inheritance, and more. Despite the obvious benefits genomics offers, its implementation is often impractical due to high costs and/or long turnaround time to generate results. Traditional and next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques have been the standard in genomics, but sometimes sequencing is overkill and/or doesn’t provide all of the desired information. Irys next-generation mapping (NGM) provides a quick, cost-effective method to fill these gaps.

NGM complements and in some cases can even replace the current methods. It can be used in conjunction with sequencing by scaffolding contigs, defining the structure between contigs and correcting errors in sequence assemblies – especially important with plant samples, which not only have long tandem repeats but are also often polyploid, making NGS assembly difficult. For some applications, NGM can potentially replace sequencing; for example, quick screening of patient samples for diseases such as cancer or congenital diseases can be done using NGM to detect disease-causing structural variation events for a fraction of the cost and time of NGS.

In addition to having countless applications, the Irys System is compatible with many sample types. Here, we demonstrate its versatility, as it was used to map hundreds of genomes from a variety of sample sources, including blood, plant tissue, and whole animals. We present a catalog of examples of how Irys NGM was used to scaffold and finish reference genomes from birds, mammals, invertebrates, and plants.