Genome assembly and annotation of D. hansenii strain

 

Debaryomyces hansenii is a halotolerant yeast species known for its resilience in extreme environments, including high salinity and oxidative stress [1]. These characteristics make it a promising candidate for space biology research, where microbial robustness is essential for long-duration missions [2]. Recent studies by the European Space Agency (ESA) have highlighted the importance of fungi in space [3]. Importantly, its ability to produce vitamin B2 and vitamin D makes it particularly suitable to study as a supplement for space diets. [4,5]  However, the strain of D. hansenii remains genomically uncharacterized. To enable functional studies of this strain, this project will generate a de novo genome assembly which will be further use to construct a custom protein database for mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics.

Objective

Annotate and assemble the genome of D. hansenii strain from raw sequencing reads, further predict protein-coding genes.

 

Approach

  1. perform quality control and genome assembly with the paired-end read
  2. perform assembled quality evaluation and genome annotation to predicted gene models and protein sequences
  3. (optional) use predicted proteome for MS run identification.

 

References

  1. Comparison of molecular and metabolomic methods as characterization tools of Debaryomyces hansenii cheese isolates. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2009.03.009
  2. Perchlorate-specific proteomic stress responses of Debaryomyces hansenii could enable microbial survival in Martian brines. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.16152
  3. ESA - Turning up gravity for space fungi study
  4. The potential role of extremophiles as food supplements in extraterrestrial bioscience engineering  – ScienceOpen
  5. Microbial supplements for extraterrestrial environments : Exploration of microbial food supplements to support human life on Mars – ScienceOpen
  6. MGI Tech. (2024). DNBSEQ™ Sequencing Technology Overview. https://en.mgitech.cn/Home/Applications/index/id/20.html