Hands on Training RNA Seq-Assembly and Annotation(Hybrid mode)

Two days training under VCS scheme on “RNA seq Assembly and Annotation” was organized by Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology on 20^th and 21^st October 2022. A total number of 47 participants mostly students pursuing PhD attended the training both in person and online. Participants across India from TNAU, Bharathiar University, Annamalai University, Karpagam academy of higher education, NIT – Calicut, National Roots Crops Research Institute- Umudike, Alagappa University, G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, IARI- New Delhi, IIT-Kharaghpur, Sikkhim University, National Dairy Research Institute- Karnal, Sri Ramachandra Institute of higher education, Tezpur University and GKVK sciences, Bengaluru have attended the training.

The training was formally inaugurated on 20.10.2022 with a welcome note by Dr. R.Gnanam, Professor and Head, DPMB &B. Training details were elaborated by Dr. N. Senthil, Director, CPMB&B and special address was given by Dr. D. Suresh Kumar, Director, CARDS, TNAU. Vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. N. Saranya, Assistant Professor (Bioinformatics).

The first lecture on “Transcriptomics and its applications in plants” was delivered by Dr..HHB Mahesh, Assistant Professor, UAS, Bengaluru. His lecture imparted complete knowledge on RNA biology and the importance of omics in understanding the functional mechanisms. Next session was handled by Dr. N Saranya, Assistant Professor (Bioinformatics) on basic linux commands. Afternoon practical session was handled by Dr. Senthilkumar Kailasam, Bioinformatics specialist, Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics, Canada where the entire Genpipes pipeline was demonstrated to the participants.

The second day (21.10.2022), a lecture cum practical session was handled by Dr. Sudharson Narayan, Head-Contract Research, Symbiont Life sciences on RNA-seq Assembly and annotation. Various topics on quality checking, de novo assembly and annotation, and differential gene expression using Trinity, Velvet and R package was explained. Followed by this session, hands on experience was provided on FASTQC and Trinity soft wares by Dr. M. Jayakanthan, Assistant Professor (Bioinformatics).In the afternoon, a practical session on NGS and Transcriptome Data analysis was handled by Dr. S.Sudhakar, Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli and Dr.L.Saranya, Research scholar where demonstration on tools such as FASTQC, CLC Genomics work bench, Omics box was given to the participants. Event reached an end point with the valedictory session. Dr. N Senthil, Director (CPMB&B), Dr. R. Gnanam, P&H (Bioinformatics) and other faculty members of DPMB&B graced the occasion and the participant’s feedback was obtained followed by certificate distribution.