ABI Innovation: Identification and evolutionary studies of mobile genetic elements

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Indiana University is awarded a grant to develop computational methods to identify and classify mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in the genomic sequences of eukaryotic and bacterial species. MGEs can jump within or between genomes, generating deleterious mutations as well as contributing to the innovation of novel biological functions in their hosts. This project will identify novel MGEs using model-based probabilistic approaches such as Hidden Markov Models to find novel MGEs and identify insertions in large-scale population genomics and metagenomic projects. The tools will be tested on eukaryotic and bacterial genomes as well as metagenomic datasets to identify potential MGEs. The project will produce software tools for MGE identification in genomic and metagenomic sequences, provide annotation of MGEs in emerging model organisms, and create a database of identified MGE sequences, Finding and understanding MGEs has applications to many fields of life sciences, such as environmental biology, ecology, food science, agriculture, and biotechnology. This project will provide key publicly-available software tools and data resources for MGE research. The research will be incorporated into graduate courses in bioinformatics and evolutionary genetics. The PIs will involve undergraduate students from North Carolina A&T State University in summer research projects.