Complete Genome Sequencing

 

With the technological advances in NGS platforms, sequencing of small genomes has become increasingly popular due to the increasingly affordable costs and rising availability. In recent years, bacterial genome sequencing projects have boomed both in number and impact. However, a closer look into public databases, reveals a painstaking truth, many of these projects result in only draft genomes encompassing tens to hundreds of gaps in variable or even unknown sizes. The difficulty in finishing complete genome assemblies can be seen by the comparatively small number of complete genomes versus the number of draft genomes on the NCBI Genbank, bearing in mind that the number of draft genomes may well be an underestimate of the actual figure.

 

On the other hand, complete bacterial genome assemblies are essential for comprehensive genome characterization, such as gene and pathway annotation, identification of genomic islands, prophage elements and pathogenicity islands, and comparative pan- and core genome analyses, related phylogenomic tree construction and synteny studies. All these pave the way to a better understanding of bacterial genetics and evolution and are widely applied to various research areas, for instance, identification of an outbreak strain and a comparative genomic study to previous strains to trace its evolutionary history prior to the outbreak by public health practitioners and clinicians, and evolution and spread of drug resistance, particularly via horizontal gene transfer.

 

 

Our works on complete bacterial geneome sequencing >>