Canseq150 helps Canadian scientists map the Grizzly genome.
Among the largest predators in country, the Grizzly bear now has another claim to fame: the most complete genetic map for its species. Within 37 pairs of chromosomes composed of about 2.3 billion nucleotide base pairs, scientists have now revealed the location of 19,848 coding genes, 7,061 non-coding genes, 3,671 pseudo-genes, and more, within the Grizzly genome.
The Grizzly bear DNA was sequenced from a 20-year old male named Samson. He was found as an orphan in Alaska in 1998, when he was less than a year old, rescued and then raised at the Alaska Children’s Zoo. He now lives at the Toronto Zoo. The blood sample donated to the GSC was collected during a routine physical exam.
Published in the journal, Genes, the sequencing effort was performed at Canada’s Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer, a leading international centre for genomics and bioinformatics research. Dr. Steve Jones, GSC Co-Director and Head of Bioinformatics, was the Principal Investigator.