Plant & Animal Genomes XV Conference

January 13-17, 2007
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

Advances In Swine Biomedical Model Genomics

Joan K Lunney

  Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory ANRI, ARS, USDA Building 1040, Room 103, BARC-East Beltsville, MD 20705 USA PH: 301-504-9368 FAX: 301-504-5306 (Daytime only)

The swine has been a major biomedical model species, for transplantation, heart disease, allergies and asthma, as well as normal neonatal development and reproductive physiology. Swine have been used extensively for studies of infectious disease processes and analyses of preventative strategies, including test of vaccines and their adjuvants, as well as effects of biotherapeutics. Local mucosal tissue development and responses to infection can be monitored in normal and in gnotobiotic piglets, affirming the role of tissue and immune activation in disease responses. Recent advances in swine genome sequencing and availability of genomic tools, e.g., microarrays and realtime assays of gene expression, SNPs and microsatellites for genome mapping, along with evolving tools for proteomic analyses have enabled researchers to assess genomic influences in these models. This review will discuss new approaches being used to probe pathways regulating normal development as well as disease processes. It will highlight opportunities that are now open to more fully explore these swine biomedical models using genomic tools.