CBCB Graduates Develop Algorithm for Correction and Assembly of PacBio RS Sequences

CBCB graduates Sergey Koren, Michael Schatz, Adam Phillippy and others have developed and published an algorithm for the correction and assembly of PacBio RS sequences. The algorithm improves the accuracy, from roughly 83% to as high as 99.9% (using short reads from second-generation instruments to correct errors in long single-molecule reads), and significantly improves genome assembly. The algorithm was also applied to a previously unsequenced genome of a parrot (Melopsittacus undulatus), assembling for the first time regulatory regions of genes involved in vocal learning circuits. The hybrid reads represent the most complete assembled bird genome now available.