NRGene and China's Genosys deliver cotton genome

NRGene, the worldwide leader in genomic assembly and analysis, and Genosys Inc. (TGS Singapore), a leading distributor of genomics technologies in China, have partnered to deliver two complete cotton genomes.

"We first sequenced upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in 2015," said Professor Tianzhen Zhang at Zhejiang University. "Now, we wanted to leverage the advances in technology to get a more complete version of not only in Gossypium hirsutum, but also Gossypium barbadense. Therefore, we combined forces with NRGene to assemble more complete cotton genomes."

Upland cotton constitutes 90% of the global cotton grown around the world and is used to produce most of the world's clothing. Gossypium barbadense, also known as extra-long staple (ELS) cotton, is used in luxury cotton fabrics.

"We've been working very closely with Professor Zhang for this entire project, facilitating the process," said Flora Liew, Managing Director of Genosys Inc. (TGS Singapore). "We were amazed by both, the speed and high quality of the DeNovoMAGICTM results."

Upon completion of the comprehensive genomes, it will be quick and inexpensive to analyze the other thousands of varieties because the genomic infrastructure will already be in place.

NRGene's DeNovoMAGICTM 3.0 provided the genome assembly based on the raw sequence data. PanMAGICTM will be used to assemble the pan-genome. It compares all-to-all of the de-novo assemblies to get the best view of local differences such as SNPs, as well as global changes such as translocations and duplications of whole chromosomic regions and PAV/CNV/SV analysis.

"Cotton is one of the world's most important non-food agricultural crops," says NRGene CEO, Gil Ronen. "By delivering critical insights into its make-up, we're helping researchers develop healthier plants with higher yields that require fewer resources."

About NRGene
NRGene is a genomic big data company developing cutting-edge software and algorithms to reveal the complexity and diversity of crop plants, animals, and aquatic organisms for supporting the most advanced and sophisticated breeding programs. NRGene tools have already been employed by some of the leading seed companies worldwide as well as the most influential research teams in academia.