DURHAM, N.C. -- Scientists say they have assembled more completely the string of genetic letters that could control how well parrots learn to imitate their owners and other sounds.
The research team unraveled the specific regions of the parrots' genome using a new technology, single molecule sequencing, and fixing its flaws with data from older DNA-decoding devices. The team also decoded hard-to-sequence genetic material from corn and bacteria as proof of their new sequencing approach.
The results of the study appeared online July 1 in the journal Nature Biotechnology.
Single molecule sequencing "got a lot of hype last year" because it generates long sequencing reads, "supposedly making it easier to assemble complex parts of the genome," said Duke University neurobiologist Erich Jarvis, a co-author of the study. He is interested in the sequences that regulate parrots' imitation abilities because they could give neuroscientists information about the gene regions that control speech development in humans.
Jarvis began his project with collaborators by trying to piece together the genome regions with what are known as next-generation sequencers, which read chunks of 100 to 400 DNA base pairs at a time and then take a few days to assemble them into a draft genome. After doing the sequencing, the scientists discovered that the read lengths were not long enough to assemble the regulatory regions of some of the genes that control brain circuits for vocal learning.
University of Maryland computational biologists Adam Phillippy and Sergey Koren -- experts at assembling genomes -- heard about Jarvis's sequencing struggles at a conference and approached him with a possible solution of modifying the algorithms that order the DNA base pairs. But the fix was still not sufficient.
Last year, 1000 base-pair reads by Roch 454 became available, as did the single molecule sequencer by Pacific Biosciences. The Pacbio te
'/>"/>
| Contact: Ashley Yeager ashley.yeager@duke.edu 919-681-8057 Duke University Source:Eurekalert |
Related biology news :
1. Asiatic pear genome sequenced
2. Ancient civilizations reveal ways to manage fisheries for sustainability
3. New genetic bar code technique establishes ability to derive DNA information from RNA
4. University of Minnesota invention helps advance reliability of alternative energy
5. Estrogen hormone reveals protective ability after traumatic brain injury
6. New form of intellectual disability discovered
7. Evidence of familial vulnerability for epilepsy and psychosis
8. Science, Innovation, and Partnerships for Sustainability -- Symposium May 16-18
9. Discovery of a new family of key mitochondrial proteins for the function and viability of the brain
10. New treatment for irritability in autism
11. Ability to estimate quantity increases in first 30 years of life
| Copyright © 2003-2012 Bio-Medicine. All rights reserved. ABOUT | CONTACT US | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS AND CONDITIONS |  |