Benzinga | Jun 16, 2021 08:06AM EDT

Dovetail Genomics Announces New Capture Hi-C Targeted Enrichment Panels; Solution Incorporates Twist Bioscience's Targeted Enrichment Technology

Dovetail Genomics, the industry leader in advanced proximity ligation genomic solutions, today announced availability of its new line of capture Hi-C technology. The flagship products include two targeted enrichment panels, the Dovetail(r) Human Pan Promoter Enrichment Kit, and the Dovetail(r) Mouse Pan Promoter Enrichment Kit, enabling the interrogation of chromatin topology surrounding 80,000 coding and non-coding gene promoters for human and mouse samples respectively. Dovetail's solution incorporates Twist Bioscience's (NASDAQ:TWST) proprietary targeted enrichment technology and is matched with Dovetail's unique Micro-C and Omni-C(r) Assays, each of which utilize sequence-independent nucleases for superior coverage compared to restriction enzyme-based Hi-C methodologies.

Genome-wide Hi-C studies have been highly informative in defining the critical relationship between chromosome architecture and gene expression. However, the sequencing depth required can be a significant barrier to larger studies. Dovetail's new products reduce the sequencing burden by over 90%, enabling interactions between promoters and their regulatory elements to be studied at a fraction of the cost. In addition, the targeted approach increases the sensitivity and resolution of the assay. Taken together, these benefits make this approach ideal for a broad variety of research questions including larger translational studies, opening the potential for discovery of a new class of chromatin topology-based biomarker.

Emily Leproust, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Twist Bioscience, stated, "We are thrilled to be collaborating with Dovetail Genomics to bring Twist's innovative targeted enrichment technology to new markets. With our incredibly flexible target enrichment design capabilities and precise DNA synthesis, Dovetail is developing new and innovative panels to advance the study of chromatin topology."

"The ability of regulatory elements to act across large genomic distances has long been known and, through chromatin conformation capture techniques, the looping events that bring promoters and their regulatory elements, such as transcriptional enhancers, into close proximity are just starting to be probed," saidTodd Dickinson, CEO. "Our new panels now enable these experiments to be completed at a fraction of the cost of genome-wide Hi-C approaches. This opens up avenues for translational research that rely on larger sample cohorts. In working with Twist, we are confident that these new best-in-class tools will help to accelerate understanding of human disease mechanisms, aid in drug discovery programs and offer a novel and valuable class of biomarker benefiting human disease diagnosis and management."