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Chinese scientists first with facts On the mysterious German Ecoli epidemic Shanghai Daily; June 4, 2011

China has the world's largest, and most thorough, DNA sequencing centers. CHINA was first to put its finger on the cause of the mysterious epidemic that has plagued Europe for three weeks. Scientists at the Beijing Genomics Institute, the world's largest DNA sequencing center, announced late on Thursday that the E. coli spreading through Europe was "a new strain of bacteria that is highly infectious and toxic." The researchers, who had obtained DNA samples of the bacteria from scientists in Germany, managed to fully sequence its genome in three days - becoming the first in the world to do so and lodge its full sequence on the Internet.

They also identified genes in the bacteria that gave it resistance to at least three major classes of antibiotics, which helped explain why doctors in Europe have had such a hard time fighting the bug. Work is continuing at the BGI's main research arm in Shenzhen City, which lies just north of Hong Kong, to fully characterize the bacteria. "We have done further analysis and see even more antibiotic-resistant and toxic genes. Our work is still ongoing," said team member Qin Junjie. BGI in Shenzhen also provides DNA sequencing and other research services for industry as well as private individuals and the income earned is pumped back into research and development. It has more than 180 sequencing machines, giving it the biggest DNA sequencing capacity in the world, and a total workforce of over 4,000. The BGI is also involved in improving rice breeds and other agricultural products to increase yields. It recently set up a unit to commercialize cloning, and meat from the offspring of cloned pigs is expected to be on the market in a few years.