Sooty reference genome and diversity panel

The BCM-HGSC is sequencing and assembling the genome of the sooty mangabey, Cercocebus atys. This project is a collaboration with Dr. Guido Silvestri (Emory University). BCM-HGSC has produced an initial high-quality draft assembly of the sooty mangabey genome using the Illumina sequencing platform. In addition, BCM-HGSC has generated approximately 7x whole genome coverage using the Pacific Biosciences RS platform, and these long reads have been used to fill gaps and improve the continuity of the initial assembly. Sooty mangabeys are an important animal model for research related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS. Sooty mangabeys are the natural hosts for a simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV-smm), and HIV-2 is derived from that SIV, likely as a result of cross-species transfer of the SIV. The mangabeys do not exhibit clinical pathology or other adverse effects from infection with their native SIV, and thus study of the host-virus interaction in this animal model is important for understanding of the mechanisms by which the mangabeys are able to control infection and avoid AIDS-like disease. The BCM-HGSC is generating a high quality draft assembly for this genome using DNA from a sooty mangabey obtained from Dr. Silvestri and Dr. Zach Johnson of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center (Emory University). In addition, BCM-HGSC has produced whole genome sequence coverage for several other unrelated sooty mangabeys in order to identify genetic variation within the species. All sequence reads are deposited in the NCBI sequence read archive.