Low-Cost Drosophila Genome Assembly

Oct 1, 2018 · 1 min read
project

Overview

We developed a revolutionary approach to Drosophila melanogaster genome assembly that reduces costs by approximately 90% while maintaining high quality, democratizing genomics research for labs worldwide.

Publication: G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics (2018) Role: Co-first author

Innovation

Traditional approaches required $10,000-50,000 per genome. Our method:

  • Uses low-coverage, long-read sequencing strategically
  • Optimizes coverage depths for cost-efficiency
  • Maintains high assembly quality metrics
  • Demonstrates feasibility with minimal sequencing data

Impact

  • 90% cost reduction compared to traditional methods
  • Enabled large-scale population genomics studies
  • Made genome assembly accessible to smaller labs
  • Methodology adopted by research groups worldwide
  • Foundational for subsequent comparative genomics work
  • Rapid Functional and Sequence Differentiation of a Tandemly Repeated Species-Specific Multigene Family in Drosophila (MBE 2017)
Genomics Methods Bioinformatics Evolution Long-Read Sequencing
Edwin Solares
Authors
Edwin Solares (he/him)
Lecturer in Computer Science & Data Science
I am a computational biologist and data scientist bridging artificial intelligence, evolutionary genomics, and climate-resilient agriculture. My research leverages cutting-edge machine learning and bioinformatics to address global food security challenges in the face of rapid climate change. With publications in high-impact journals including Nature Plants, PNAS, and Genome Research (h-index: 7), I develop tools and methods that advance both computational science and real-world applications.