Skim sequencing: an advanced NGS technology for crop improvement

Area of Science:

• Genomics
• Molecular Biology
• Plant Breeding

Background:

• Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has advanced high-throughput genotyping, leading to methods like genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) and RAD-seq.
• Reduced representation genome sequencing lowers costs but whole-genome approaches are becoming feasible with decreasing sequencing expenses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review technological advancements, applications, and challenges of skim sequencing for crop improvement.
• To highlight skim sequencing's utility in identifying polymorphic markers cost-effectively.

Main Methods:

• Discussion of skim sequencing as a low-coverage whole-genome sequencing technique.
• Review of existing literature on skim sequencing protocols, bioinformatics tools, and applications.

Main Results:

• Skim sequencing enables cost-effective identification of a large number of polymorphic markers.
• The technique is applicable to diverse plant species for quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and genetic map construction.

Conclusions:

• Skim sequencing offers a cost-effective, simple, and genomewide approach for genotyping in crop improvement.
• Its applications are expanding in plant breeding for genetic analysis and marker identification.