Pig Genome Update No. 68

angenmap@db.genome.iastate.edu
September 1, 2004

1. Pig genetics and genomics were prominent at the National FASS meetings
2. Need array materials?? We still have additional materials for ordering
3. The 3rd International Symposium on Genetics of Animal Health
4. USDA planning workshop on Genomics Needs for the Next 25 Years
5. The new CSREES web site is up and running
6. Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium continues trying to reach its goal
7. Upcoming meetings (9 items)

Pig genetics and genomics were prominent at the 2004 National FASS meetings in St Louis this July 25-29. A diverse group of participants stayed until the last session of this year's National Federation of Animal Science Societies meetings to discuss swine genetics and genomics. Nearly half of the presentations described the identification of new quantitative trait loci (QTL) or the validation of existing QTL for reproduction, growth and meat quality traits, as well as scrotal hernia. Growth and carcass composition traits in pig lines divergently selected for testosterone production were described, while two presentations described a comprehensive evaluation of growth, carcass and eating quality traits of pigs sired by boars from two different time periods. Two new database resources were also presented. One, PACE, has been designed for the storage and combination of several types of map data, to align physical and genetic maps and to provide links to related database resources. It is available at https://acedb.asg.wur.nl/ , however functionality will be limited until more data have been submitted. The second database, openSputnik swine, contains clustered pig EST sequences and their annotation, as well as results from a large-scale in silico SNP study. The database is freely available at http://sputnik.btk.fi/project?name=swine (kindly provided by Laura Grapes).

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Need array materials?? We still have additional materials left to obtain printed pig oligo arrays. Despite a number of requests some materials still exist to print additional arrays. Previous individuals who have ordered arrays can again order up to 30 arrays and new orders from non-NRSP8 labs and foreign labs will now be accepted until the materials run out. Cost is $20/slide. Slide orders would be on a first come first serve basis. If you are interested please immediately contact Max Rothschild at mfrothsc@iastate.edu .

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The 3rd International Symposium on Genetics of Animal Health (formerly, Candidate Genes for Animal Health) will convene on July 13-15, 2005, in Ames, Iowa, USA. The meeting will feature several invited speakers, contributed presentations and poster sessions and should be an exciting continuation of past meetings. Support for the meeting will be provided by a number of industry groups and the USDA-CSREES genome coordinators. Please note the dates on your calendar, and bookmark the GAH2005 web home page: http://www.ans.iastate.edu/GAH2005.html . More information will be available at this site soon!

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Genomics Needs for the Next 25 Years. An extremely important strategic planning workshop for agricultural animal genomics will be conducted by USDA on September 22-23rd in Washington, DC. Late last year, the Interagency Working Group on Domestic Animal Genomics asked that USDA provide a more detailed long-term vision of publicly-funded agricultural animal genomics programs. As a result, 35 leading ARS and CSREES researchers working in all of the major species will be participating in an invited workshop with USDA administrators to assist in formulating this vision. The two-day event will focus on bioinformatics and functional genomics needs for the future and will help to identify priority areas that USDA should lead. The anticipated result of the workshop will be a white paper document that will lay out this vision for use in strategic planning by ARS and CSREES. For information please contact: Ronnie Green, USDA/ARS (rdg@ars.usda.gov).

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The new CSREES web site is up and running. Please send any events or topic information to Dr. Muquarrab Qureshi USDA-CSREES MQureshi@CSREES.USDA.GOV. You may want to post notices such as meetings or conferences, as long as they are related to this web page. You can access the web site following this URL: www.csrees.usda.gov and then going to the section on Animals and Animal Products, then look for the programs on Animal Breeding and Genetics and Genomics.

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Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium continues to try to reach its goal. Efforts are progressing to advance the sequencing of the pig genome. The next meeting will be held during ISAG meeting in Tokyo, Japan in September. Interested parties are encouraged to participate in the future. If you can help in raising these funds please contact Larry Schook at UIUC or Max Rothschild, at ISU.

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Upcoming meetings (see: http://www.genome.iastate.edu/community/meetings.html ) Additional items can be found at: http://www.agbiotechnet.com/calendar/index.asp .

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Items for Pig Genome Update 69 can be sent to me by no later than October15 please. 
                    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: Muquarrab Qureshi, CSREES and Caird Rexroad II, 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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