P. falciparum Genetic Crosses

Objectives

The P. falciparum Genetic Crosses project is generating high-quality data on genome sequence variation and sexual recombination for the parents and progeny of parasite crosses.

Assembling a complete and accurate picture of P. falciparum genome variation from short sequence reads presents many analytical challenges, particularly in regions of the genome that are highly polymorphic or made up of repetitive elements. To provide researchers with data resources to help overcome these challenges, the P. falciparum Genetic Crosses project has:

• Sequenced the parents and 78 progeny clones from the crosses 3D7xHB3, HB3xDd2 and 7G8xGB4
• Performed the first integrated analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), INDELs and complex polymorphisms in P. falciparum, using Mendelian error rates as an indicator of genotypic accuracy
• Released sequence data and variant calls open access, and provided a dedicated web application to increase the usefulness of these data resources