Overview

Bacterial Artificial Chromosome Resources
In 2000, Dr. Pieter de Jong relocated his vast collection of human and animal DNA clones to CHORI from Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. This collection is the major source of clone material for the Human Genome Project. Additionally, researchers worldwide use the collection to characterize genomes of many medically and economically important species of animals, protists, and bacteria.

Using molecular biology techniques, Dr. de Jong breaks genomic DNA into very large segments and inserts the individual segments into a bacterial vector for propagation in E. coli. These bacterial artificial chromosomes (BAC) are amplified and stored in microtiter plates to create recombinant DNA libraries. To date, Dr. de Jong and his group have accumulated approximately three million clones, which are stored in forty freezers located at CHORI.

The major resource for decoding of the human genome is de Jong’s current human library, which comes from one anonymous donor. Because this person’s specific genetic background is completely unknown, research can proceed without distractions related to the ethnicity or personal characteristics of the donor.
The human library is his largest, but he also has libraries for the mouse, Drosophila, dog, cat, cow, pig, silkworm, and several strains of rat. Libraries of single-cell organisms include Plasmodium several trypanosomes, and other non-disease protists and bacteria. Future projects include creating libraries for additional medically relevant species and agricultural animals, including the horse, turkey, tilapia, and catfish.

For additional information on Dr. de Jong's research and BACPAC resources at CHORI, please visit the BACPAC Resource Center website: http://www.chori.org/bacpac/