High school student is first to sequence the angelfish genome

2 years ago 127

17-year-old Indeever Madireddy sequenced the genome of his favored angelfish aft it died – the archetypal clip this taxon has been sequenced

Life 21 October 2022

By Michael Le Page

A 17-year-old precocious schoolhouse pupil successful California has sequenced the genome of the freshwater angelfish (Pterophyllum scalare) for the archetypal time.

Indeever Madireddy sequenced the genome of his favored angelfish Calvin aft it died successful March this year. “Although my food was dead, I wanted to sphere it forever,” helium says. “So I decided to series the genome of the angelfish with the hopes that I could lend that accusation to the technological community, portion besides paying a tiny tribute to my pet!”

Madireddy did the sequencing astatine BioCurious, a community lab successful Santa Clara, California, that makes precocious instrumentality disposable to anyone for a tiny rank fee.

He stored his food astatine -80°C astatine the laboratory to sphere its DNA. He spent astir a period preparing and learning however to series it.

The sequencing was done implicit 2 weekends with a tiny sequencer made by Oxford Nanopore. These sequencers work disconnected the series of DNA molecules as they walk done tiny pores.

Nanopore sequencers are somewhat little close than competing methods, but tin series overmuch longer idiosyncratic pieces of DNA. This makes it easier for sequencing bundle to assemble the genome by putting each these pieces backmost unneurotic – similar a jigsaw puzzle with bigger and less pieces.

Analysing the information took different 2 months and a batch much learning, says Madireddy. The series information has been enactment connected a nationalist database and a abbreviated insubstantial describing the enactment was published connected 18 October.

The angelfish is autochthonal to the Amazon basin and has go a fashionable aquarium food worldwide. Its genome hasn’t revealed immoderate peculiar surprises, being akin to those of related fish.

The sequencing outgo astir $2000, says Madireddy, of which helium managed to rise nearly $1000 by crowdfunding.

“The astir important portion of this assemblage laboratory was the radical I met there,” says Madireddy. “Two radical successful particular, Johan Sosa and Kurt Chang, were of immense enactment to me.”

“This is simply a fantastic illustration of an inquisitive tone and what young scientists tin bash erstwhile you region exertion barriers similar outgo and complexity,” says Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore.

Madireddy is simply a keen fish-keeper and biologist, and has antecedently done enactment utilizing CRISPR cistron editing. He had raised Calvin from the ovum signifier on with different hatchlings.

“The remainder of the angelfish are inactive blessed and steadfast successful my aquarium,” helium says.

Journal reference: microPublication Biology, DOI: 10.17912/micropub.biology.000654