MRI: Acquisition of a Roche 454 FLX pyrosequencing instrument: development of a nexus for cross-platform next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics

在过去的十年中，由于基因组测序工作的显著发展和随后产生的大量数据，生物/生命科学发生了重大革命。基因组测序是一个确定生物体DNA的身份和顺序的过程；从而为所有生命过程背后的遗传密码提供了一幅蓝图。最近完成的人类基因组序列草图突出了这一点，这是一项显著的技术成就，由于强大的计算硬件和软件的发展而成为可能。完整基因组序列的可用性为了解生物体（从微生物到人类）如何功能，发育，进化以及与病原体和各种环境线索相互作用提供了基础。由于下一代超高通量、超低成本DNA测序技术（如Roche 454）的发展，这导致了生物学领域的转型变化，这是本提案的基础。过去需要几个月才能完成的工作，现在几个小时就能完成。罗氏454 FLX将被60多名教职员工及其研究人员使用，包括德克萨斯农工大学的博士后研究员、研究生和本科生。应用和研究项目包括：高粱耐旱性的解剖，牛和瘤胃细菌生物群落的功能和宏基因组分析，海洋钻探项目中的抗病性和微生物群分析等。数据和项目成果将在植物基因组学和生物技术研究所网站（http://ipgb.tamu.edu）、研究出版物、相关科学会议和我们预定的全校年度会议上发布。

During the past 10 years, there has been a major revolution in the biological/life sciences as a result of the remarkable development and subsequent generation of a vast quantity of data from genome sequencing efforts. Genome sequencing is a process that determines the identity and order of an organism's DNA; thus providing a blueprint for the genetic code underlying all of the processes of life. This has been highlighted by the recently completed draft sequence of the human genome, a notable technical achievement made possible by the development of powerful computational hardware and software. The availability of complete genome sequences is providing the foundation for understanding how organisms (from microbes to humans) function, develop, evolve and interact with pathogens and assorted environmental cues. This has led to a transformational change in the field of biology stemming from the development of next-generation ultra high-throughput, ultra low-cost DNA sequencing technology ( e.g. Roche 454), which serves as the basis for this proposal. What used to take several months, can now be done in several hours. The Roche 454 FLX will be used by more than 60 faculty members and their research staff, including post-doctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students at Texas A&M University. Applications and research programs include: dissection of sorghum drought tolerance, functional and metagenomic analysis of biological communities for cattle and rumen bacteria, disease resistance and an analysis of microflora in ocean drilling programs, among others. Dissemination of data and project outcomes will be available on the Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology website (http://ipgb.tamu.edu), research publications, relevant scientific meetings and during our scheduled campus-wide annual meeting.