News Release

The complete sequencing of genomes of 4 important representative species in Inner Mongolia, China

Latest achievements of BGI's 1,000 Plant and Animal Reference Genomes Project

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BGI Shenzhen

August 9th, 2011, Shenzhen, China - Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (IMAU) and BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, jointly announced the complete sequencing of genomes of four important representative species in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. They are Mongolian sheep, Alxa Bactrian Camel, Mongolian horse, and Mongolian cattle. The genome projects are highly valuable for the studies on genetic analysis of important economic traits in Mongolian characteristic species, such as fast breeding and reproduction, strong disease resistance, superior meat quality, among others. The complete genomes also lay the important genomic foundation for further development in livestock breeding.

Inner Mongolia lies in the north of China and is one of the most important bases for agriculture and livestock production, with over 100 million head of livestock in 2011. Currently the worldwide market for Mongolian livestock production totals more than 33 billion USD in annual revenue from a broad range of products, including dairy foods, leather goods, wool or camel hair products and meat products. The four main species - Mongolian sheep, Alxa Bactrian camel, Mongolian horse and Mongolian cattle, are the most productive domestic livestock in Inner Mongolia. They are widely distributed throughout Inner Mongolia, characterized by tolerance to cold and drought, resistance to the unfavourable ecological conditions and poor vegetation.

"Recognizing the importance of the four Mongolian livestock, we partner with BGI to initiate this project one year ago." said Professor Huanmin Zhou, PI of this project and Director of Science and Technology at IMAU, "The whole genome sequences are the basic gene resources for the further study on Mongolian species and also provide a critical foundation for the better understanding of their genetic traits and protecting the important germplasm resources in China." he added.

In this project, utilizing whole genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing strategy and next generation sequencing technology, libraries of different insert sizes including 170 bp, 500 bp, 800 bp, 2 kb, 5 kb, 10 kb and 20 kb were sequenced by pair-end. The genome sizes of the four Mongolian species - Mongolian sheep, Alxa Bactrian Camel, Mongolian horse, and Mongolian cattle – are about 3 Gb, 2.4 Gb, 2.8 Gb, 2.8 Gb, respectively. "We will perform further comparative genomics and evolution analysis in order to find more scientific evidence to reveal the evolution process, geographical migration and ecological value of Mongolian species." said Zhou.

The genome project of Mongolian species is part of BGI's '1000 Plant and Animal Reference Genomes Project'. Ye Yin, PI of '1000 Plant and Animal Reference Genomes Project' and Director of Research & Cooperation Division at BGI, congratulated the breakthrough in Mongolian species' genomes research. He said, "Based on next-generation high-throughput sequencing technology and powerful bioinformatics platforms, BGI will do more work in this field and continue to promote the applications of genomics in agriculture."

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About The 1,000 Plant & Animal Reference Genomes Project

In January 2010, BGI launched the 1,000 Plant & Animal reference genomes project and called for collaboration from around the world. The goal of the project is to generate reference genomes for 1,000 economically and scientifically important plant/animal species. Together with its collaborators, BGI has initiated about 505 plant and animal genome projects and completed fine or draft genome maps for over 289 plants and animals. For more information, find www.ldl.genomics.cn.

About Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (IMAU)

Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (IMAU) was established in 1952, with the first president appointed by chairman Mao Zedong. Over the past 56 years, IMAU has initiated a multi-level management system. Its primary objective is focused on undergraduate studies. Nevertheless, IMAU has been paying profound attention to postgraduate, higher vocational and adult educational programs. IMAU is a multi-discipline university with 8 fields of study. They are Agronomy, Science, Engineering, Economics, Management, Social Sciences and Education. IMAU has succeeded in cultivating more than 70,000 skilled talents in diverse fields of study. For more information, please visit www.imau.edu.cn

About BGI

BGI was founded in Beijing, China on September 9th, 1999 with the mission of being a premier scientific partner to the global research community. The company's goal is to make leading-edge genomic science highly accessible through its investment in infrastructure that leverages the best available technology, economies of scale, and expert bioinformatics resources. BGI, and its affiliates, BGI Americas and BGI Europe, have established partnerships and collaborations with leading academic and government research institutions as well as global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, supporting a variety of disease, agricultural, environmental, and related applications.

BGI has established a proven track record of excellence, delivering results with high efficiency and accuracy for innovative, high-profile research that has been published to date in more than 50 top-tier academic journals. These accomplishments include sequencing one percent of the human genome for the International Human Genome Project, contributing 10 percent to the International Human HapMap Project, carrying out research to combat SARS and German deadly E. coli, playing a key role in the Sino-British Chicken Genome Project, and completing the sequence of the rice genome, the silkworm genome, the first Asian diploid genome, the potato genome, and, most recently, 1000 genomes and human Gut metagenome.

For more information about BGI please visit www.genomics.cn or www.bgisequence.com

Contact information:

Huanmin Zhou, Ph.D.
Director of Science and Technology
Inner Mongolia Agricultural University
huanminzhou@126.com
+86 471 4309386
www.imau.edu.cn

Bicheng Yang, Ph.D.
Global Marketing Director
BGI
+86-755-25273450
yangbicheng@genomics.cn
www.bgisequence.com


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