Comparative analysis for mapping and sequence assembly

Abstract

The increasing number of assembled reference sequences produced by ongoing genome sequencing projects provides information that is useful for the mapping and assembly of related genomes. Comparative information has the potential to both decrease the cost and accelerate mapping and sequencing projects by reducing experimental effort. Anchoring of contigs from one species onto an assembled genome of the other related species provides hypothetical order, orientation, and distance information. Mapping cloned genomic fragments, such as Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes (BACs), of one species onto an already assembled genome of another may be either used to select clones for targeted comparative sequencing or to infer the hypothetical order and orientation of BACs. Assembled genomic sequence of one species can be used as a template to guide the assembly of another, related species.