The most complete marine microbial gene database is released
[Research progress]
Science and Technology Daily News (Reporter Song Yingying Luo Yunpeng) Reporter from the recently held "thousands of Marine biological gene sequencing project" and the global Marine microbial gene bank construction and application results of the joint conference was informed that BGI Life Sciences Research Institute, Shandong University, the University of East Anglia and other institutions, Built the most complete Marine microbial gene database so far, and found a large number of gene resources with application potential. The research provides new ideas for the development of antimicrobial peptides, novel gene editing tools, PET plastic degrading enzymes, etc. The results were published online in the international academic journal Nature.
According to the research team, they built the Marine microbial gene database GOMC by analyzing and deep mining the published Marine microbial metagenomic data. This database contains more than 43,100 Marine microbial genomes and 2.458 billion gene sequences, which is three times the reported Marine genome database TaraOcean. Among them, more than 20,000 are potentially new species, and nearly 10,000 have been discovered for the first time in unique habitats such as the deep sea. At present, the data of the database has been stored on the Life Big Data platform of the National Gene Bank.
According to Fan Guangyi, corresponding author of the paper and president of BGI Qingdao, the research team found a number of gene resources with application potential through in-depth mining of the GOMC database. Among them, the research team identified 36 new CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing systems, and excavated a new Cas9 editing system with potential application value, providing more choices for researchers to use gene editing tools.
It is understood that as an important achievement of the first year of the "Gene sequencing Project of Thousands of Marine Organisms" in Qingdao Free Trade Zone, this research will help the evolution of Marine microorganisms, ecological research and the development and utilization of genetic resources.