01
April
2017
|
00:01
Asia/Singapore

Scientists compete to sequence animal genomes

A team led by Prof R Manjunatha Kini, from the Dept of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science, has made a pitch to sequence the entire genome of the temple pitviper in the 2017 Plant and Animal SMRT Grant Programme competition. The temple pitviper is the only snake species known to produce a toxin called waglerin, a neuromuscular inhibitor which scientists believe could be developed into a muscle relaxant drug.