I-Corps: Anchored Hybrid Enrichment

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

Researchers have developed a new technology, termed anchored hybrid enrichment, that allows a set of genes to be isolated and sequenced in a broad range of species (e.g., vertebrates or insects) with minimal preexisting genomic resources. The purpose of the proposed work is to perform market assessments and technology developments to expand beyond the current academic research market into future commercial pharmaceutical and agricultural markets. Anchored hybrid enrichment integrates emerging technologies (e.g., high-throughput sequencing and hybrid enrichment) and leverages existing genomic resources in order to enable a 100-fold increase in the rate that DNA sequence data can be collected in non-model species. This new approach opens the door for highly efficient surveys of genetic variation across diverse species. The innovation developed in this proposal has the potential to advance biodiversity research by releasing two major bottlenecks: limited availability of genetic markers in non-model systems and low sample throughput. Anchored enrichment may also open the door for a new high-throughput mining approach to pharmaceutical discovery and increased efficiency of insecticides for agriculture applications. Anchored hybrid enrichment is quickly becoming the gold standard in biodiversity research because it allows large amounts of data to be collected in non-model species and because it reduces the cost of doing research by 100-fold. This approach to data collection could greatly increase the ability of researchers to answer important biological questions in non-model species. Application of the innovation to pharmaceuticals has the potential to greatly increase the rate at which new drugs can be discovered by providing access to novel genetic variants that already exist in nature. Finally, application of the anchored hybrid enrichment technology to agriculture may allow for the development of more efficient insecticides by providing genetic information for a broad array of agricultural pest species. This can result in lower costs and faster time to market, improved outcomes, higher quality and yields for genetically-engineered products.