December 09, 2005

Arf! The dog genome is complete

The New York Times reports that the journal Nature reports that scientists have decoded the dog genome “to a high degree of accuracy.”

Scientists can now compare the dog, human, and mouse genome to see what makes a mammal a mammal. Apparently humans and dogs have more “brain function” genes, possibly because the social nature of our lives requires more computing power.

Tasha, the boxer whose genes researchers sequenced, was chosen because boxers are very inbred “easing the decoding task.”

New York Times, December 8, 2005
Science: Dog's Genome Could Provide Clues to Disorders in Humans
NICHOLAS WADE
The dog genome gives researchers insight into the evolutionary history of humans.

Nature, December 8, 2005
"Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog"
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, et al.
Abstract:
"Here we report a high-quality draft genome sequence of the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), together with a dense map of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across breeds. The dog is of particular interest because it provides important evolutionary information and because existing breeds show great phenotypic diversity for morphological, physiological and behavioural traits."
Full-text available for a fee, or check your local (large) library.

1 comment:

emily said...

The actual gene sequence data are available through several open-access channels, as pointed out by Peter Suber in Open Access News.