DHS-Developed Krona Software Powers Humanitarian Project

Tammy Waitt | American Security Today | March 10, 2017

Software originally developed at the at the U. S. Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) to sequence DNA for biodefense is now being used by Microsoft to sequence mosquito DNA in the fight against disease. Developed by the NBACC’s National Bioforensic Analysis Center Genomics Team for bioforensics applications, Krona is a unique visualization tool that enables users to quickly analyze massive quantities of data – such as more than 100 million sequences of DNA in a single mosquito sample, according to Microsoft.

Krona is a unique visualization tool that enables users to quickly analyze massive quantities of data – such as more than 100 million sequences of DNA in a single mosquito sampleMosquitoes collect blood samples from every animal and human they bite and in turn can be an early warning indicator of disease. Microsoft is using Krona to analyze the complex DNA collected by mosquitos. The Krona software constructs a multi-layered, interactive chart that shows the relative abundance and diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic components in the sample. NBFAC scientists use Krona to visualize metagenomic datasets, which are often made up of millions or billions of individual DNA sequences that collectively tell the scientists what organisms are present in the sample being analyzed.

Metagenomic analysis is extraordinarily powerful, and is being used around the world to characterize what kinds of microbes are present in different environments. The challenge is that metagenomics analyses generate a huge amount of data. The Krona tool provides a new way of viewing these huge datasets at different levels of complexity. NBACC uses Krona to visualize and report metagenomic data from a wide range of metagenomic analyses, ranging from bioforensic analyses in support of federal law enforcement to collaborative work with NASA characterizing samples collected from the International Space Station...