International Mammalian Genome Society

The 15th International Mouse Genome Conference (2001)

Table of Contents * Complex Genetics * Developmental Genetics * Gene Annotation * Gene Discovery * Genome Sequencing * Functional Genomics * Mutagenesis * Presentations * Verne Chapman Memorial Lecture

COMPARATIVE MAPPING AND SEQUENCING: MOUSE AND BEYOND

Jim Thomas
NHGRI-NIH
49 Convent Dr MSC4431, Rm 2C28
Bethesda MD 20892 USA

Co-Authors: 1)Summers TJ, 1)Lee-Lin SQ, 1)Maduro VVB, 1)Idol JR, 1)Prasad AB, 1)Ryan JF, 1)Touchman JW, 2)Bouffard GG, 2)Thomas PJ, 2)Beckstrom-Sternberg SM, 2)Blakesley RW, 2)McDowell JC, 2)Dietrich NL, 2)Green ED
Institutions: 1)National Human Genome Research Institute, 2)NIH Intramural Sequencing Center

The sequence of the human genome provides a reference point by which we can compare ourselves to other organisms. To date, most comparative sequencing has focused on pair-wise comparisons between human and a limited number of other vertebrates, such as mouse. Thus, little is presently known regarding the value of comparative sequencing across multiple species. As an extension of our human-mouse comparative mapping and sequencing that focused on the ~150 Mb of the mouse genome orthologous to human chromosome 7, we are now establishing sequence-ready BAC maps in 10 additional vertebrates for genomic segments corresponding to 15 Mb of human chromosome 7. Mapping and sequencing progress in chimpanzee, baboon, cow, pig, dog, cat, rat, chicken, fugu and zebrafish has already led to the selection of ~900 clones (~135 Mb) for sequencing, with ~44 Mb of sequence currently deposited in GenBank. As part of the mouse genome sequencing effort, the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center (NISC) is committed to finishing the portion of the mouse genome orthologous to these 15 Mb. An additional 30 Mb of draft mouse sequence orthologous to human chromosome 7 has already been deposited in GenBank by NISC. The establishment of this comparative sequence resource should facilitate the development of new computational tools for multi-species sequence comparisons and address the benefits of sequencing species from a range of evolutionary distances.