Researchers in New Delhi have sequenced the draft genome of 'army worm' Spodoptera frugipedra , one of the most destructive agricultural pests responsible for crop damage in tropical and subtropical regions of the world1.
This is the fourth genome publication from India (non-microbial) and the first without foreign collaboration, according to the researchers.
S. frugiperda belongs to the second largest order of insects called Lepidoptera that include butterflies. While the biology of other lepidoterans, such as Danaus plexippus and Heliconius had been studied earlier, there has not been much focus on the important pest S. frugiperda due to unavailability of its genome. A major limitation in obtaining extensive genetic data was the prohibitive costs associated with sequencing and assembling large eukaryotic genomes.
Now scientists at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi have generated and assembled a draft sequence for S. frugiperda using 'cost effective' Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms. They have annotated the sequenced genomic libraries against Reference Sequence Protein Database at the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information. "The use of three different NGS platforms significantly improved sequencing throughput and reduced costs," says Madavan Vasudevan of Bangalore-based Bionivid Technology that provided the NGS services to the ICGEB scientists.
"Globally this is one of the few publications where the whole genome sequencing and data analysis strategy involved multiple platforms enabling the scientists to complete the whole work in just 20 months," he told Nature India .
The researchers say their work would help understand the genetic basis of S. frugiperda biology and facilitate studies of comparative genomics and basic research leading towards genome based approaches for the control of this pest.
