Credit: Allan Hopkins, licensed under Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0)
The beaded seal genome has been sequenced by the scientific consortium known as the DNA Zoo, thanks to a tissue sample supplied by NIST's Biorepository in Charleston, South Carolina.
Researchers will soon have access to the full genomic sequences for 23 marine mammal species preserved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), thanks to an ongoing collaboration between NIST and a scientific consortium called the DNA Zoo.
The specimens come from a longstanding project known as the National Marine Mammal Tissue Bank (NMMTB), which NIST maintains in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In 1987, NIST, NOAA and partner organizations began to collect marine mammal specimens in Alaska for scientific research. Two years later this work expanded into the lower 48 states and eventually into the Pacific Islands region. These efforts were formally established as the NMMTB in 1992.
Today, more than 4,500 specimens from 1,182 animals and 50 species of marine mammals are archived at the NIST Biorepository, a national facility located in the Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, South Carolina. Carefully collected and preserved for up to decades, the specimens provide insights into changing environmental conditions. For example, by comparing whale tissue collected in the 1980s to more recent samples from the same species, scientists can learn about changes in pollution levels, whale diet and more.
Now, the biorepository is providing tissue for genomic sequencing that can be used by researchers around the world for a wide variety of research projects, including many in conservation and wi ..
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