Complexity reduction of polymorphic sequences (CRoPS): a novel approach for large-scale polymorphism discovery in complex genomes

PLoS One. 2007 Nov 14;2(11):e1172. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0001172.

Abstract

Application of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is revolutionizing human bio-medical research. However, discovery of polymorphisms in low polymorphic species is still a challenging and costly endeavor, despite widespread availability of Sanger sequencing technology. We present CRoPS as a novel approach for polymorphism discovery by combining the power of reproducible genome complexity reduction of AFLP with Genome Sequencer (GS) 20/GS FLX next-generation sequencing technology. With CRoPS, hundreds-of-thousands of sequence reads derived from complexity-reduced genome sequences of two or more samples are processed and mined for SNPs using a fully-automated bioinformatics pipeline. We show that over 75% of putative maize SNPs discovered using CRoPS are successfully converted to SNPWave assays, confirming them to be true SNPs derived from unique (single-copy) genome sequences. By using CRoPS, polymorphism discovery will become affordable in organisms with high levels of repetitive DNA in the genome and/or low levels of polymorphism in the (breeding) germplasm without the need for prior sequence information.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Base Sequence
  • Genome, Plant
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*
  • Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
  • Zea mays / genetics