Pig Genome Update No. 33

angenmap@iastate.edu
November 1, 1998 

 1. The Pig Genome Workshop and the Plant and Animal Genome VII (PAGVII)
 2. Need Some Help to Travel this Next Year to PAGVII?
 3. A Joint E.C./U.S. Task Force Met Recently in Brussels, Belgium
 4. Database and Web Site Changes are Underway
 5. New U.S. Node for PIGBASE is Being Set Up
 6. Revision of the Genome Mapping Discussion Group (ANGENMAP) Mailing List
 7. A New Set of 28 Pairs of Fluorescent Primers (Set VI) Available
 8. The Human Genome Meeting Will Be Held March 27-30, 1999
 9. A Belated Thanks and Best Wishes to Dr. Roger J. Gerritts
10. A Special Conference: From Jay Lush to Genomics
11. Meeting Updates (6 items)

The Pig Genome Workshop and the Plant and Animal genome meetings are approaching! This is a reminder about registration for the International Plant & Animal Genome VII Conference (PAG-VII), taking place January 17-21, 1999 at the Town & Country Convention Center in San Diego, California. The early registration deadline is November 13, 1998. Registration is available via the internet using a secure on-line registration form: http://www.chemint.org/https/pagreg.html . The meeting draft for the PAG-VII conference and abstracts from previous PG-I through PAG-VI meetings are now available. All information about the conference may be obtained from the conference web site located at: http://www.intl-pag.org/ . The hotel will be the Town & Country Convention Center. The meeting is organized by Scherago International, Inc.: pag@scherago.com. The planned workshops and conference events promise to be informative and exciting.

Need some help to travel this next year to PAGVII? As in the past some limited assistance may be available for active U.S. pig genome members to travel to the PAG/species workshop in San Diego. If you hope to go and need some assistance, please contact the U.S. Pig Genome Coordinator soon.

A joint E.C./U.S. task force met recently in Brussels, Belgium to share updated gene mapping, QTL, database and trangenic research results and goals. The U.S. group was led by Dr. Caird Rexroad Jr., USDA-ARS, and included the species genome coordinators, several other scientists and USDA-CSREES and NSF administrators from the U.S. The task force examined the big picture of genomics research and offered recommendations for the appropriate agencies from both the E.C. and U.S. on directions and needs for genomic and bioinformatic research and development. A follow-up E.C.-U.S. steering committee is planned for the PAGVII meetings.

Database and web site changes are underway. This is to announce that the U.S. Pig Genome web site has migrated from the old site: http://www.genome.iastate.edu/ to the new site: http://www.genome.iastate.edu. If any problems appear or you have suggestions concerning the new site, please send emails to: webmaster@db.genome.iastate.edu;. The old URL will still function for a few months. During this transition period, however, we urge you to update your bookmarks.

New U.S. node for PIGBASE. Thanks to go to Dr. David Nicholson, Chris Mungall, Jian Hu, Andy Law and Dr. Alan Archibald of the Roslin Institute, U.K. and Dr. Zhiliang Hu, ISU, for their help in setting up the U.S. node for the PIGBASE database at Iowa State University. After some preliminary tests, the U.S. node for PIGBASE is fully functioning and ready to accept queries. Now the North America users can use this site for faster transmission speed. You can access the U.S. node for PIGBASE through the U.S. PIG GENE MAPPING Coordination Program web site: http://www.genome.iastate.edu. On the main manual page, you will see a "The PIGBASE Managers" clickable link under the "Databases" sub-title and a "The PIGMAP Gene Map Viewer" link under the "Gene Maps" sub-title. Click on either of them and you will get to the PIGBASE database manager manual or the pig gene map options manual and proceed further from there. Please email to webmaster@db.genome.iastate.edu; if you observe any broken links or encounter any difficulties on this site. The new U.S. node for the Chicken Genome Database is currently under construction. Thanks for your attention and stay tuned for further announcements.

Revision of the ANGENMAP - Genome Mapping Discussion Group (angenmap@iastate.edu) is taking place. The new address will be: angenmap@db.genome.iastate.edu. With the new list service software, we are able to configure the list to automatically filter out unwanted spam mails, mass commercial mailings, list sub/unsub requests, and restrict the postings to those from the list subscribers. This will reduce junk mailing problems. If you need to send email from an email address that is different from the one you have on the list, you may send a request to listmaster@db.genome.iastate.edu and you will obtain special permission for your posting to go through the system. The new discussion list is managed with a Smartlist software which automatically manages many list service processes, such as "subscription", "unsubscription", "digest", "get archive", "get info" and the "get list" functions. Please note that all list service requests should be mailed to: angenmap-request@db.genome.iastate.edu, which is an automated email-interactive service for speeding up your requests. If you are not sure about how it works, do not hesitate to send a email with the word "help" in the "Subject:" line, e.g.: 

         To: angenmap-request@db.genome.iastate.edu,
         Subject: help
You will receive an automated reply with detailed instructions in the next few minutes. We have transferred your email address from the current list to the new list. If you encounter any difficulties with the automated list service, have any problems or suggestions, and you want to reach a person for help, please send your email to: listmaster@db.genome.iastate.edu. The old list address angenmap@iastate.edu; will still function by forwarding all postings to the new address in the future. However, posting directly to the new address is encouraged.

A new set of 28 pairs of fluorescent primers (Set VI; September, 1998) have been made recently and are available for distribution. This brings the total number of fluorescent primer pairs distributed by the U.S. Pig Genome Coordinator to 253 pairs. The complete information about the primer sets can be found at http://www.genome.iastate.edu/resources/fprimerintr.html (or browse down from our main page: http://www.genome.iastate.edu to "Fluorescent Primers" in the "US Pig Gene Mapping Coordination Program Shared Resources" section). The fluorescent primers are available to the pig gene mappers in both the U.S. and in foreign countries. To order the Set VI fluorescent primers, please send your request directly to the U.S. Pig Genome Coordinator at mfrothsc@iastate.edu.

HGM'99 will be held March 27-30, 1999 at the Brisbane Convention Centre. The Human Genome Meeting is the flagship international conference covering the human genome project and genome research in general. In 1999 it is being held in Australia in association with the Lorne Genome Meeting, which for this year only, will not be held at the normal time. The conference will cover all aspects of genomes from a wide range of organisms including: genome mapping and sequencing, gene discovery, bioinformatics, model genetics and genomic systems (bacteria, protozoa, fungi, plants, invertebrate metazoans, vertebrates and mammals), comparative genomics, functional genomics, evolutionary biology and anthropology, developmental biology, gene regulation, gene therapy, transgenics and new technologies (including chips, microarrays, robotics and DNA sequencing). Further information is available through the Secretariat, HGM'99, Centre for Molecular and Cellular Biology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072 Tel: +61 7 3365 4562, Fax: +61 7 3365 4388, Email: hgm99@cmcb.uq.edu.au and URL: http://www.cmcb.uq.edu.au/hgm99/ (kindly provided by Jay Hetzel).

A belated thanks and best wishes. Dr. Roger J. Gerritts recently announced his retirement from the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) after 40 years of service. Roger's primary background was in swine research and as a member of the ARS National Program Staff, he had an important role in promoting animal genetics. He also had a national and international leadership role in germplasm preservation efforts. Those of us in the pig genome area will miss his encouragement and assistance, and we wish him the best for a happy and healthy retirement.

A special conference: From Jay Lush to Genomics: Visions for Animal Breeding and Genetics will be held May 16-18, 1999 at Iowa State University Ames, Iowa. This not-to-be-missed conference will bring together quantitative and molecular geneticists from industry, government, and academe to discuss the future of animal breeding and genetics in light of changes in the fields of molecular genetics and bioinformatics. The program will feature eleven plenary lectures by renowned international scientists and a poster session of current research by participants. The schedule is arranged to encourage participant interaction and discussion. Information on the program and speakers can be found at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~ans/graduate/visions.html .

Meeting Updates:

Contributions to Pig Genome Update 34, including short meeting announcements, are always welcome. Please send by December 10. 

                    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: Dick Frahm, CSREES and Roger Gerrits, ARS

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

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