Pig Genome Update No. 73

angenmap@animalgenome.org
July 1, 2005

  1. Enjoy summer, support the industry and barbecue pork
  2. Pig genome sequencing grant deadline is coming
  3. Swine Oligo Array Committee makes progress
  4. Have you tried the pig quantitative trait loci (QTL) database
  5. The 3rd International Symposium on Genetics of Animal Health
    will convene on July 13-15, 2005 in Ames, Iowa, USA

  6. Upcoming meetings (6 items)

Enjoy summer, support the industry and barbecue pork. Go out and barbecue some pork for the holidays and the summer. See the recipes provided by the NPB: http://www.otherwhitemeat.com/aspx/recipes/Recipe_Details.aspx?rid=363&cid=12

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Pig genome sequencing grant deadline is coming. The deadline for the USDA National Research Initiative Porcine Genome Sequencing grant program (http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/fundview.cfm?fonum=1380 ) is August 18 with letters of intent (not required due July 18). USDA department officials have indicated that they expect a highly competitive, peer-reviewed process. The $10 million included in the CSREES RFA is not necessarily the bottom line of the USDA's commitment. The Agricultural Research Service of the USDA has indicated that they would provide an additional $1-2 million for the project. The Alliance for Animal Genome Research, the nonprofit organization that has led the fundraising efforts, praised USDA for outstanding leadership in getting the project underway. The USDA announcement was made possible because of the significant research collaborations of members of the international Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium. Many members of the SGSC have contributed to the development of the resources that will serve as the basis for sequencing the swine genome. This new USDA program will not be the only source of funding for the project. Through the SGSC, the ARS-USDA, the Institute for Pig Genetics of the Netherlands, the INRA of France, Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa State University, the National Livestock Research Institute of Korea, the National Research Initiative (NRI) of CSREES-USDA, the National Pork Board, North Carolina Pork Board, North Carolina State University, the Roslin Institute, the Sino-Danish Consortium, University of Illinois, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have contributed already or have pledged significant support to the swine genome sequencing project. Information regarding the CSREES RFA can be found http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/porcinegenomesequencingnri.html .

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Swine Oligo Array Committee makes progress. The swine NRSP8 genome committee is continuing to plan for the next generation of swine long-oligo arrays. The Swine Oligo Array committee includes: Scott Fahrenkrug, UMN, Chair; Joan Lunney, USDA BARC, CoChair; Cathy Ernst, MSU; Chris Elsik, TAMU; Jim Reecy, IA State, NRSP8 Bioinformatics Chair; Max Rothschild, IA State, Swine Genome Coordinator, and Joe Cassady, NCSU, Swine NRSP8 Chair. The swine group will develop the non-redundant sets of sequences on which to base oligo design, and expects that a set of ~20,000 long oligos to be produced. To decrease costs the swine group is coordinating efforts with members of the bovine oligo planning group. It is expected that bids will be reviewed in July and production started in August.

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Have you tried the pig quantitative trait loci (QTL) database (PigQTLdb) that was created at Iowa State University. To date, 791 QTLs from 73 publications have been curated into the database at http://www.animalgenome.org/QTLdb/ and new data are continually being added to it. Support from NAGRP and NCBI have made this possible.

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The 3rd International Symposium on Genetics of Animal Health (formerly, Candidate Genes for Animal Health) will convene on July 13-15, 2005, in Ames, Iowa, USA. The meeting will feature several invited speakers, contributed presentations and poster sessions and should be an exciting continuation of past meetings. Please see GAH2005 web home page: http://www.ans.iastate.edu/GAH2005.html .

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Upcoming meetings (see: http://www.animalgenome.org/community/meetings.html )

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Items for Pig Genome Update 74 can be sent to me by no later than August 15 please.
                    Max Rothschild
                    U.S. Pig Genome Coordinator
                    2255 Kildee Hall, Department of Animal Science
                    Iowa State University
                    Ames, Iowa 50011
                    Phone: 515-294-6202, Fax: 515-294-2401
                    mfrothsc@iastate.edu

cc: Muquarrab Qureshi, CSREES and Caird Rexroad II, ARS

U.S. PIG GENOME COORDINATION PROJECT
Paid for by funds from the NRSP-8
USDA/CSREES sponsored
Pig Genome Coordination Program
http://www.animalgenome.org/
Mailing list: angenmap@animalgenome.org


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