Plant & Animal Genomes XV Conference Plant & Animal Genomes XV ConferenceJanuary 13-17, 2007
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA
The history of dog domestication and the creation of many hundreds of dog breeds with distinct size, morphology and behavior as well as the increased frequency of certain diseases in specific breeds has led to the proposal that disease gene mapping should be relatively easy in dog breeds. The availability of the dog genome sequence, a SNP map and a SNP array for genome-wide association is likely to lead to the identification of many genes relevant to both canine and human health in the next few years. So far we have performed six mapping studies that have identified genes underlying Mendelian traits. Preliminary data from three complex traits look extremely promising. A similar but unique population history exists for horses. The horse community plans to generate a SNP array for genome-wide association mapping once a high quality genome sequence, a SNP map and an understanding of the haplotype structure has been acquired. Equine trait mapping is likely to shed light both on inherited diseases as well as quantitative traits. The high-quality draft of the genome sequence of a grey, short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis domestica) has its strength in comparative analysis. Comparisons with eutherian mammals and birds reveal lineage-specific loss and gain of otherwise highly conserved sequence elements. Lineage-specific non-coding elements vastly outnumber coding elements and are concentrated near developmental regulators. Notably, a significant fraction of larger novel conserved non-coding elements are clearly derived from transposons, supporting the hypothesis that ‘jumping genes’ has been a major creative force in mammalian evolution. The coming analysis of many more low coverage genomes will show if this mechanism is important also in the development of short novel conserved sequences.