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<p class="caff">Correspondence to: Jian Wang<sup><a title="affiliated with " href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7279/full/nature08696.html#a1">1</a></sup>Jun Wang<sup><a title="affiliated with " href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7279/full/nature08696.html#a1">1</a>,</sup><sup><a title="affiliated with " href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v463/n7279/full/nature08696.html#a2">2</a></sup> Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Ju.W. (Email: <a href="mailto:wangj@genomics.org.cn">wangj@genomics.org.cn</a>) or Ji.W. (Email: <a href="mailto:wangjian@genomics.org.cn">wangjian@genomics.org.cn</a>).</p>
<p class="caff">This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike licence (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/</a>), which permits distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This licence does not permit commercial exploitation, and derivative works must be licensed under the same or similar licence.</p>
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<h3 class="hidden">Abstract</h3>
<p class="lead"><span style="font-size: small">Using next-generation sequencing technology alone, we have successfully generated and assembled a draft sequence of the giant panda genome. The assembled contigs (2.25<span class="mb"><span class="mb"> </span></span>gigabases (Gb)) cover approximately 94% of the whole genome, and the remaining gaps (0.05<span class="mb"><span class="mb"> </span></span>Gb) seem to contain carnivore-specific repeats and tandem repeats. Comparisons with the dog and human showed that the panda genome has a lower divergence rate. The assessment of panda genes potentially underlying some of its unique traits indicated that its bamboo diet might be more dependent on its gut microbiome than its own genetic composition. We also identified more than 2.7<span class="mb"><span class="mb"> </span></span>million heterozygous single nucleotide polymorphisms in the diploid genome. Our data and analyses provide a foundation for promoting mammalian genetic research, and demonstrate the feasibility for using next-generation sequencing technologies for accurate, cost-effective and rapid <i>de novo</i> assembly of large eukaryotic genomes.</span></p>
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