How Does the Brown Norway Rat Genome Advance Human Disease Research?

[iansmith]

Brown Norway rat genome obtained from whole genome shotgun and clone-by-clone approach | By Cathy Holding

An international collaboration of genome sequencing teams previously at odds over strategy puts aside its differences this week in Nature to publish the third complete mammalian genome sequence. The Rat Genome Sequencing Project Consortium combined whole genome shotgun (WGS) methodology with a clone-by-clone approach to produce a high-quality draft covering over 90% of the brown Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) genome.

[...]

The rodent–human genomic comparison reveals that all but a handful of human disease gene orthologs are present, underscoring the importance of the rat as a model organism of human disease, according to Christopher P. Ponting, professor of bioinformatics at the University Of Oxford and a member of the team. “I think this gives us an idea of how to handle the primate genomes that are going to come online soon, so the observations provide a foretaste of the fruits of comparing our genome—the human genome—with those of other primates,” he said.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20040331/01[/URL]

http://www.nature.com/nsu/040329/040329-11.html

http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v428/n6982/full/nature02426_fs.html

 

[Chemicalsuperfreak]

When will the report the Norwegian Blue Parrot genome?

(I'm terribly sorry, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity)