Reptile Morph Sequencing Project

The beautiful array of colors and patterns exhibited by reptiles is truly amazing! How would you like to help us learn more about the genetics behind these spectacular patterns and palettes?

 

Rare Genetics Inc. provides a modest set of genetic tests for specific reptile species–and has done so for the last few years. Developing these tests has been a monumental challenge and continues to be time-consuming and demanding. Further, many of the tests that we received the most inquiries about, we were not yet able to provide.

 

Genome scientists at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology are partnering up with Rare Genetics Inc. in order to provide the expertise to be able to complete high quality whole genome sequences for reptile species.

 

Rare Genetics’ collaboration with HudsonAlpha changes the whole genome sequencing game! Where before we were limited by lack of whole genome sequencing we can now make that happen–and we couldn’t be more excited about this opportunity! The donations we receive from this GoFundMe will directly pay for the sample collection, sequencing, and data analysis needed for us to be able to design more genetic tests. Help us make the most of this collaborative endeavor! 

 

In addition, these HudsonAlpha scientists have developed a specific software tool, Khufu, that is ideal for identifying small genetic changes among pools of samples from animals that contain certain morphs. This is a unique set of capabilities that provides a cost effective and efficient way to develop the DNA sequence knowledge that we need to be able to develop many new reptile genetic tests–the tests that hundreds of reptile keepers have inquired about over the last few years!

 

Further, this is a unique period in time when sequencing costs are getting more affordable! We’re also able to use amazing crowdfunding tools that allow us as reptile keepers to be the ones that make this research into the animals that we love become a reality!

 

What we propose to do first:

-Sequence the whole genome of the ball python in order to provide a high quality reference genome

-Use the reference genome to learn about color and pattern genes, and develop genetic tests for the associated morphs

-Further use the reference genome to develop other tests as well, such as sex determination, species/locality purity, identity, paternity, etc.

-As funding allows, continue to sequence other whole reptile genomes and study the color and pattern genes in those species as well, and develop genetic tests for those species

 

Outcomes from this project:

-Have affordable morph tests available

-Provide species/locality and lineage tests

-Be able to do paternity testing

-Provide identity testing in order to be able to inform breeders about which individuals will be best to pair together in order to maximize genetic diversity

-Put together a breeder registry that would allow us to track lineages and make pedigrees

-Produce several peer reviewed scientific publications reporting our results

-Make publicly available billions of base pairs of reptile DNA sequence from all the species that we are able to work with in this project

-Build a strong community of reptile keepers that are passionate about learning more about reptile genetics, and want to play an active role in deciding which questions we want to answer next

 

Some of the questions that we will be able to answer:

-What morphs does my reptile have?

-What sex is my reptile?

-Is my reptile a pure species or locality, or is it a mix?

-How closely related are my reptiles to one another?

-How can we maximize the health of future generations of reptiles by ensuring individuals that are bred are the most genetically variable?

-Did these two snakes I just bought come from the same litter or clutch?

-Is my new reptile really from the lineage that the breeder advertised it as?

-How different are the gene pools for captive bred reptiles to the same species that we find in the wild?

-How is the gene pool for different captive species of reptiles changing over time?

-What genes are associated with color and pattern in reptiles?

-Can we develop affordable genetic tests that can be used to determine what all morphs an individual reptile has?

 

We see this project as a pivotal step towards us as reptile keepers being able to have access to genetic tests that are already available for most other companion animal species like dogs, cats, and horses.

 

As has been seen in other animal groups that have had more whole genome sequencing done, for each genome that we have a high quality reference sequence for, we will see an exponential growth in our understanding of these amazing animals that we care for and observe every day.

 

It’s awesome to think about how many more things we will know about our reptiles just five years into this project, let alone 25 years from now…and you have the opportunity to be a part of getting this all started right now!