Gene

Scale (ratio)

Ecology

Biology

Identification (biology)

Optical mapping

Cartography

Operating system

Computer science

Botany

Computational biology

Genetics

Genome

Geography

Contiguity

Genomics

Data science

Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal

Recent advances in optical mapping have allowed the construction of improved genome assemblies with greater contiguity. Optical mapping also enables genome comparison and identification of large-scale structural variations. Association of these large-scale genomic features with biological functions is an important goal in plant and animal breeding and in medical research. Optical mapping has also been used in microbiology and still plays an important role in strain typing and epidemiological studies. Here, we review the development of optical mapping in recent decades to illustrate its importance in genomic research. We detail its applications and algorithms to show its specific advantages. Finally, we discuss the challenges required to facilitate the optimization of optical mapping and improve its future development and application.

Advances in optical mapping for genomic research