Mouse lemur reference genome and diversity panel.

The BCM-HGSC is sequencing and assembling the genome of the gray mouse lemur (Microcebus murinus). A high quality draft sequence of the reference genome will be assembled from a female mouse lemur, using read data produced by the Illumina platforms. The BCM-HGSC is currently generating deep Illumina read coverage from the same animal that was previously used by the Broad Institute to generate approximately 2x Sanger sequence coverage. The BCM-HGSC is also using the Pacific Biosciences RS platform to generate several-fold coverage of long reads that will be used to close gaps in the initial Illumina-based assembly. The BCM-HGSC is collaborating in this project with Dr. Anne Yoder of the Duke Lemur Center. The reference animal was obtained from the DLC mouse lemur colony. A BioNano map of a lemur genome was deposited as SUPPF_0000000066, and links to those files are present in ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/supplementary_data/bionanomaps.csv In addition to the deep sequence coverage of the reference mouse lemur, BCM-HGSC will generate whole genome sequences from additional mouse lemurs, both to identify DNA sequence variation within Microcebus murinus and to characterize genomic differences among species within this genus. Additional samples from M. murinus have been obtained from Anne Yoder (DLC) and Dr. Corrine Lautier,Universit Montpellier II, France. Analyses will include comparisons with the human and other nonhuman primate genomes. Mouse lemurs are members of the Family Cheirogaleidae, strepsirrhine primates that diverged from the ancestors of humans and apes more than 50 million years ago. The genus Microcebus is endemic to Madagascar, and consists of at least 12 recognized species. M. murinus, the gray mouse lemur, is nocturnal with small body size (55-65 grams) and complex social behavior. Mouse lemurs provide important comparative genomic information for analyses of the evolution of the human and other primate genomes. As strepsirrhine primates, they serve as an outgroup to all comparisons among New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, apes and humans. Mouse lemurs are also used as animal models for various studies related to human biology and disease, including aging, reproductive biology and Alzheimer''s disease.

贝勒医学院人类基因组测序中心（Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center，BCM-HGSC）正开展灰鼠狐猴（Microcebus murinus）的基因组测序与组装工作。该团队将以一只雌性灰鼠狐猴为实验材料，依托Illumina测序平台（Illumina）产出的读段数据，组装获得高质量的参考基因组草图。

目前，BCM-HGSC正从同一只个体中获取深度Illumina测序读段覆盖数据——该个体此前已被博德研究所（Broad Institute）用于生成约2倍Sanger测序（Sanger）覆盖度的序列数据。此外，该团队还将借助Pacific Biosciences RS测序平台（Pacific Biosciences RS）生成数倍覆盖度的长读段数据，用于填补基于Illumina的初始基因组组装中的序列缺口。

本项目由BCM-HGSC与杜克狐猴中心（Duke Lemur Center）的Anne Yoder博士合作开展，本次研究使用的参考个体源自该中心的灰鼠狐猴饲养种群。

一份狐猴基因组的BioNano图谱（BioNano）已以SUPPF_0000000066编号存档，相关文件的下载链接可于ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/supplementary_data/bionanomaps.csv中获取。

除对该参考个体进行深度测序覆盖外，BCM-HGSC还将为额外的灰鼠狐猴个体生成全基因组序列，一方面用于解析灰鼠狐猴种群内的DNA序列变异，另一方面用于表征狐猴属（Microcebus）内不同物种间的基因组差异。

研究团队已从Anne Yoder（杜克狐猴中心，DLC）以及法国蒙彼利埃第二大学的Corrine Lautier博士处获取了更多灰鼠狐猴样本。

本项目的分析内容将涵盖人类与其他非人灵长类基因组的比较研究。

灰鼠狐猴隶属于鼬狐猴科（Cheirogaleidae），属于原猴类灵长动物（strepsirrhine primates），其演化分支与人类及类人猿的祖先在距今超过5000万年前便已发生分化。狐猴属（Microcebus）为马达加斯加特有属，目前已确认至少包含12个物种。灰鼠狐猴（M. murinus）为夜行性动物，体型小巧（体重55-65克），且具备复杂的社会行为。

灰鼠狐猴可为人类及其他灵长类基因组的演化分析提供重要的比较基因组学数据。作为原猴类灵长动物，它们可作为新世界猴、旧世界猴、类人猿与人类所有比较分析的外类群（outgroup）。此外，灰鼠狐猴还被用作多种与人类生物学及疾病相关研究的动物模型，研究方向涵盖衰老、生殖生物学以及阿尔茨海默病（Alzheimer's disease）等领域。