Next-generation sequencing yields the complete mitogenome of red-crowned crane (G. japonensis)

The first human genome sequencing project cost $2.7 billion and was declared complete in 2003, after 15 years of international cooperation and collaboration between several research teams and funding agencies. Today, with the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies, the cost and time of sequencing a human genome have dropped over 100 fold.
Next-Generation Sequencing Methods
Although all next-generation methods use different technologies, they all share a set of standard features....

RNA sequencing, or RNA-Seq, is a high-throughput sequencing technology used to study the transcriptome of a cell. Transcriptomics helps to interpret the functional elements of a genome and identify the molecular constituents of an organism. Additionally, it also helps in understanding the development of an organism and the occurrence of diseases. 
Before the discovery of RNA-seq, microarray-based methods and Sanger sequencing were used for transcriptome analysis. However, while...

Bacteria and archaea are susceptible to viral infections just like eukaryotes; therefore, they have developed a unique adaptive immune system to protect themselves. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated proteins (CRISPR-Cas) are present in more than 45% of known bacteria and 90% of known archaea.
The CRISPR-Cas system stores a copy of foreign DNA in the host genome and uses it to identify the foreign DNA upon reinfection. CRISPR-Cas has three different...

A eukaryotic cell can have up to three different types of genetic systems: nuclear, mitochondrial, and chloroplast. During evolution, organelles have exported many genes to the nucleus; this transfer is still ongoing in some plant species. Approximately 18% of the Arabidopsis thaliana nuclear genome is thought to be derived from the chloroplast’s cyanobacterial ancestor, and around 75% of the yeast genome derived from the mitochondria’s bacterial ancestor. This export has occurred...

Eukaryotes have large genomes compared to prokaryotes. To fit their genomes into a cell, eukaryotic DNA is packaged extraordinarily tightly inside the nucleus. To achieve this, DNA is tightly wound around proteins called histones, which are packaged into nucleosomes that are joined by linker DNA and coil into chromatin fibers. Additional fibrous proteins further compact the chromatin, which is recognizable as chromosomes during certain phases of cell division.

Genomics is the science of genomes: it is the study of all the genetic material of an organism. In humans, the genome consists of information carried in 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus, as well as mitochondrial DNA. In genomics, both coding and non-coding DNA is sequenced and analyzed. Genomics allows a better understanding of all living things, their evolution, and their diversity. It has a myriad of uses: for example, to build phylogenetic trees, to improve productivity and...