Ovine (Sheep) Genome Effort
CSREES-supported work will provide a road
map of the ovine genome for future “value
capture” studies to improve animal
health and production. A memorandum of understanding
is established among AgResearch (New Zealand),
the National Meat and Livestock Board (Australia),
the USDA Agricultural Research Service Meat
Animal Research Center (Nebraska), and the
CSREES-supported NRSP-8 Sheep Coordinator,
designating funding for construction of a
10-fold redundant Bacterial Artificial Chromosome
(BAC) library. The copy of the library received
by Utah State University will be screened
upon request and positive clones returned
to the investigators.
In addition, arrayed filters have been purchased
and will be distributed to researchers investigating
traits in sheep. Clones from the BAC library
will be used to develop a fingerprint map
suitable for whole genome and targeted sequencing.
NRSP-8 Sheep Coordinator funds also contributed
to the development of an ovine radiation
hybrid (RH) panel in a collaborative project
between Utah State University and Texas A&M
University. Ninety clones with retention
frequencies between 15 percent and 40 percent
have been selected for inclusion in the 5,000
rad RH panel. Large DNA preparations have
been made for the 90 clones, and the panel
is ready for distribution.
An online, real-time comparative database
being developed at Texas A&M University
will be used for Web-based transmission of
mapping data on the distributed ovine RH
panels. Database displays will include ovine
RH maps of each chromosome and cross-referenced
to homologous human and bovine chromosome
segments, with lines between orthologous
markers indicating internal rearrangements.
Using funds from a CSREES National Research
Initiative (NRI) grant, this panel will be
typed at Utah State University with 500 microsatellites.
The resulting framework map will be oriented
with respect to the multiple ovine linkage
maps that exist. About 500 Expressed Sequence
Tags (ESTs) with known human and bovine map
locations will be typed on the panel and
added to the RH map. The framework map containing
the microsatellites provides the scaffolding
for orienting these ESTs to the ovine linkage
maps. The resulting comprehensive map can
then be linked to the expression maps of
other species.
Contact: Noelle
Cockett, Utah State University.
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