Genomic sequencing and analysis of a Chinese hamster ovary cell line using Illumina sequencing technology

BACKGROUND: Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are among the most widely used hosts for therapeutic protein production. Yet few genomic resources are available to aid in engineering high-producing cell lines. RESULTS: High-throughput Illumina sequencing was used to generate a 1x genomic coverage of an engineered CHO cell line expressing secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP). Reference-guided alignment and assembly produced 3.57 million contigs and CHO-specific sequence information for ~ 18,000 mouse and ~ 19,000 rat orthologous genes. The majority of these genes are involved in metabolic processes, cellular signaling, and transport and represent attractive targets for cell line engineering. CONCLUSIONS: This demonstrates the applicability of next-generation sequencing technology and comparative genomic analysis in the development of CHO genomic resources.