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 similar to 18,000 mouse and similar to 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.