The Importance of Using Next-Generation Sequencing to Further Authenticate the ATCC Microbial Collection

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have rapidly transformed microbiological research. To date, sequencing-based applications have relied on fully assembled reference genomes for bioinformatics analyses. However, despite the availability of consensus-driven genome sequences in public databases, the quality, completeness, authenticity, accuracy, and traceability of genomic data are inadequate. The lack of standards for genomic data leads to potential errors as researchers attempt to interpret their genomic information and make impactful correlations.

ATCC addressed these challenges by implementing a robust NGS and genome assembly workflow to enrich the characterization of the biological materials in our collection. The result is authenticated ATCC biological materials paired with reference-quality microbial genomes with corresponding metadata that are now publicly available to the scientific community on the ATCC Genome Portal (genomes.atcc.org).

Key Points

• Discuss why ATCC is committed to providing reference-quality genomes for items within the microbial collections
• Understand the standardized process and quality control criteria required for growing, extracting, sequencing, and analyzing each reference-quality genome
• Explore the features of the ATCC Genome Portal