Developing a Target Capture Bait Set for Orchids

One challenge in studying the evolution and population genetics of orchids is having the right toolkit to address questions. To overcome this, Garden staff in collaboration with Arbor Biosciences and the University of Georgia set out to develop a system to sequence hundreds of genes (963 to be exact) from a single orchid DNA sample at a time. This “target sequence capture” has the potential to revolutionize genetic analyses of orchids and reveal hidden information necessary for their conservation. This advanced DNA sequencing method will be applied to answer key questions about orchids which before now could never be answered.