Life Sciences Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Genome Annotation Consortium Maps BAC Ends to Contigs of Human Genomic DNA Annotated in the Genome Channel (November 1998)

BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) end sequencing is a strategy for genomic DNA sequencing, supported by DOE, which does not require the construction of a physical map of the genome of interest (Venter, J.C., Smith, H.O., Hood, L. Nature 1996 May 30, 381(6581):364-6, "A new strategy for genome sequencing"). Determining the sequences of both ends of about 300,000 BAC clones (average insert size 150 kbp) will place a sequenced tag about every 5 kbp across the genome. This allows one to proceed with a sequencing strategy based on "walking" down a chromosome by sequencing several "seed" BACs and then selecting the next BAC for sequencing by examining the sequenced ends and selecting for sequencing those clones that would most efficiently extend the sequence. Staff in Life Sciences Division’s Computational Biosciences Section have begun mapping BAC ends to the contigs of human genomic DNA annotated in the Genome Channel. The BAC end project is about half completed and we find that the sequenced BAC ends occur about every 10-13 kbp. Even at this stage of the project, visualizing the data from BAC ends is very useful and should help those sequencing the human genome to proceed in a more efficient manner. (Contact: R. J. Mural, muralrj@ornl.gov, 423-576-2938, Funding Source: KP)