To provide a novel
resource for
analysis of the
genome of
Biomphalaria glabrata, members of the international
Biomphalaria glabrata
Genome Initiative (
biology.unm.edu/
biomphalaria-
genome.html">
biology.unm.edu/
biomphalaria-
genome.html), working with the
Arizona Genomics Institute (AGI) and supported by the
National Human Genome Research Institute (
NHGRI), produced a high quality
bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)
library. The BB02
strain B. glabrata, a field isolate (Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil) that is susceptible to several
strains of
Schistosoma mansoni, was selfed for two
generations to reduce
haplotype diversity in the offspring. High
molecular weight DNA was isolated from ovotestes of 40
snails, partially digested with HindIII, and ligated into pAGIBAC1 vector. The resulting B. glabrata BAC
library (BG_BBa) consists of 61824
clones (136.3 kb average insert size) and provides 9.05 × coverage of the 931 Mb
genome. Probing with single/low copy number
genes from B. glabrata and fingerprinting of selected BAC
clones indicated that the BAC
library sufficiently represents the
gene complement. BAC end sequence data (514 reads, 299860 nt) indicated that the
genome of B. glabrata contains ~ 63 percent AT, and disclosed several novel
genes,
transposable elements, and groups of high frequency sequence
elements. This BG_BBa BAC
library, available from AGI at
cost to the
research community, gains in relevance because BB02
strain B. glabrata is targeted
whole genome sequencing by
NHGRI.