Pembient

Pembient

Sep 06, 2017

Group 6 Copy 321
1

Back on Track

As we mentioned in our last announcement, international regulations inhibited our ability to obtain tissue samples from Ntombi, a black rhino living in South Africa, for genome sequencing. This setback led researchers in Dr. Chuck Murry’s lab to search regionally for a suitable replacement sample. Luckily, the University of Washington’s Burke Museum of Natural History had a rhinoceros foot of unknown genus in its collection. Scientists in Dr. Murry’s lab isolated DNA to compare mitochondrial genomes across all rhinoceros species and confirmed the foot indeed came from a black rhino. Subsequently, the sample's genome was sequenced in Dr. Jay Shendure’s lab in Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. As we were in the process of sequencing, we learned of a larger black rhino sequencing project. The scope of this project is to use the genomes of many black rhinos (more than 20), from both live animals and museum artifacts, to not only publish a well-annotated genome sequence but to also study biological diversity and genetic drift within black rhino subspecies. We reached out to the lead scientists of this project to collaborate and have subsequently shared our unmapped sequences with them for processing. Interestingly, preliminary mapping and comparative genomics reveal that our foot sample was from a black rhino from East Africa (Kenya) that likely died in the 1960s. Suffice it to say we are excited that our black rhino genome sample will be used to support both a thorough genome assembly and efforts to understand species phylogenetics.

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  • Maria Chavez
    Maria ChavezBacker
    Thanks for the update! I was so frustrated with you about the difficulties obtaining a sample to sequence. I'm very inspired by your project and work. I hope we can save these species before more go extinct.
    Sep 06, 2017
  • Pembient
    PembientResearcher
    Thank you for your lovely note. The whole process was a big learning experience for everyone involved. Our partners at the University of Washington deserve a lot of credit for their persistence. We tried to document the hurdles they encountered as best we could so that all of the project's backers understood the delays. We should have another update soon since we owe some backers raw sequence data and, of course, we want the whole community to be able to access the composite, annotated genome sequence being put together by the larger black rhino genome sequencing project. Stay tuned!
    Sep 06, 2017

About This Project

We are sequencing the genome of a beautiful black rhino. Her name is Ntombi, and she is one of only 5,055 black rhinos alive in the world. Three out of eight original subspecies have been poached to extinction and the remaining five subspecies are critically endangered. With Ntombi's genome sequence we will be able to advance scientists' understanding of this endangered species that has played a critical role in our ecosystem for over 50 million years.

Blast off!

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