(Image courtesy of www.ustc.edu.cn) 
Latest news from the GenomeWeb:
“The Beijing Genomics Institute at Shenzhen announced that it is launching an International Giant Panda Genome Project.
Scientists at BGI-Shenzhen plan to sequence a panda to be selected from the Chengdu and Wolong breeding centers using high-throughput sequencing technology. They hope to have a draft genome sequence assembled within six months. The giant panda genome is roughly the same size as the human genome and contains some 20,000 to 30,000 genes.
The project is intended to provide new insights into panda ecology and evolution. This could shed light on the panda’s history, migration, and relationships to …read more