Arthropod Sequencing

Image source: Gideon Pisanty (Gidip) גדעון פיזנטי (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Arthropod Sequencing at the BCM-HGSC

The BCM-HGSC has a long history of arthropod sequencing, starting as a partner in the sequencing and finishing of Drosophila melanogaster, which completed parts of chromosomes 3 and X.

Using Sanger technology, we went on to sequence the second fruitfly D. pseudoobscura, the honey bee, the red flour beetle, the parasitic jewel wasp Nasonia, and the polyphenic pea aphid.

Improvements in Sequencing Technologies

As sequencing technologies have improved and costs come down, we have been involved in many more projects including the 454 platform: the wheat pest hessian fly, a general pest Helicoverpa amigera in collaboration with CSIRO, the centipede, the postman butterfly, eight new Drosophila species as part of the ModEnocde project, and several others.

Illumina technology has engendered even more ambition. With Trudy Mackay, we sequenced the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel—a population of 200 inbred lines enabling GWAS analysis in Drosophila, and we are now sequencing a small pilot of the i5K initiative—an initiative to sequence and analyze the genomes of 5,000 arthropods.

Insect Vectors of Human Disease

Finally, we also sequence arthropod vectors of human disease, and are involved in the sequencing of the sand fly and black fly, vectors of leishmaniasis and river blindness respectively.

Project Categories

The sections below have organized the projects into different categories.

  1. Drosophila projects: Drosophila is the Rosetta Stone of arthropod—and perhaps animal—genomics. These pages including the now finished D. melanogaster and D. pseudoobscura pages, as well as the ongoing Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel, and Drosophila ModEncode species sequencing. The original D. melanogaster and D. pseudoobscura pages are here for the historical record, it is best to go to flybase for the most recent data.

  2. Ongoing de novo projects: Include vectors and the i5K pilot, and other species in progress.

  3. Completed arthropod genomes: For the historical record, we are keeping our pages for the honey bee, red flour beetle, nasonia, pea aphid, heliconius, and other completed projects.

  4. Cancelled projects: The following projects are no longer being pursued: Lucerne flea, Green mantisfly, and Trentino conehead.

Drosophila Projects
Drosophila melanogaster Drosophila modENCODE Project   Drosophila melanogaster Drospophila pseudoobscura
Drosophila modENCODE Project   Drosophila
melanogaster
Drosophila
pseudoobscura
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Other Arthropod Genome Projects
I5K Project Asian long-horned beetle Bark scorpian Bed bug Black fly genome project
i5K Project Asian long-horned beetle Bark scorpion Bed bug Black Fly
Brown recluse spider Brown marmorated stink bug Bull-headed dung beetle Bumble bee Dwarf honey bee
Brown recluse spider Brown marmorated stink bug Bull-headed dung beetle Bumble bee Dwarf honey bee
         
Caddisfly Colorado potato beetle Common house spider Copidosoma floridanum Emeral ash borer
Caddisfly Colorado potato beetle Common house spider Copidosoma floridanum Emerald ash borer
Eurytemora affinis Geophilimorph centipede German cockroach Glassy-winged sharpshooter Green mantisfly
Eurytemora affinis Geophilimorph
centipede
German cockroach Glassy-winged sharpshooter Green mantisfly
(cancelled)
Hackberry petiole gall psyllid Hessian fly Honey bee Hrabe's jumping bristletail Hyalella azteca
Hackberry petiole gall psyllid Hessian fly Honey bee Hrabe's jumping bristletail Hyalella azteca
Lucerne flea Mayfly Mediterranean fruit fly Milkweed bug Parasitic wasp
Lucerne flea
(cancelled)
Mayfly Mediterranean fruit fly Milkweed bug Parasitic wasp
(N. vitripennis)
Parasitic wasp Parasitic wood wasp Pea aphid Postman butterfly Red flour beetle
Parasitic wasp
(T. pretiosum)
Parasitic wood wasp
(O. abietinus)
Pea aphid Postman butterfly Red flour beetle
Sand fly Scarce chaser Sheep blowfly Silvestri's Northern Forcepstail Tobacco hornworm
Sand fly Scarce chaser Sheep blowfly Silvestri's Northern Foreceptstail Tobacco hornworm
Trentino conehead Turnip sawfly Velvet worm Water strider Western black widow spider
Trentino conehead
(cancelled)
Turnip sawfly Velvet worm Water strider Western black widow spider
Western flower thrips Westrn orchard predatory mite      
Western flower thrips Western orchard
predatory mite
     
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