The Kākāpō Speciome: the first 40 completed

The kākāpō is a large flightless New Zealand parrot and there are only 125 individuals left.  The Kākāpō 125 project aims to sequence the genomes of all the individuals in the species.  This will be the first time that an entire species genomes (a speciome?) has been sequenced.  This could be very useful for evolutionary genomics as all future individuals will be a result of an already sequenced ancestor. The projects stated objective:

"To sequence the genomes of all remaining 125 kākāpō. This will allow us to better understand the genetic variation between individuals which in turn allows us to breed pairs even more selectively. It also serves as a foundation for potential future genetic intervention in order to more quickly and successfully breed kākāpō."

The project recently made an announcement that the sequencing of 40 individuals has been completed and the sequence data will be freely shared with interested labs.

Other species such as the ʻalalā may soon follow.

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