Giant panda genome sequencing project

The giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, is a critically endangered mammal confined to portions of six isolated mountain ranges in south-central China. There are fewer than 3,000 giant pandas currently alive in the wild and fewer than two hundred in captivity. The giant panda is unusual for feeding almost exclusively on bamboo plants though being evolutionarily related to meat-eating carnivores such as bears and dogs. The genome sequence of the giant panda will aid conservation efforts and the study of interactions between genetics and diet. The panda genome has 20 pairs of autosomes and two sex chromosomes. The first draft of this genome has approximately 73-fold coverage of the estimated 2.46 Gb genome. The sequence was derived from a female captive-bred panda, named Jingjing, who came from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.