Bovine Genome Sequencing Program: Full-length cDNA Sequencing

This project is part of a large international effort to sequence the bovine genome.

Project Leaders	Marco Marra Robert Holt Steven Jones Stephen Moore
Involved Organizations	University of Alberta Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre
Funding Agencies	Genome Canada Genome British Columbia

Overview

Project Resources and Information
Sequence Files Bovine Full-length cDNA Sequencing

In the past 5 years, sequencing of the genomes of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms has become a tractable and realistic goal. With genomic sequencing and the identification of full length cDNAs, the identification of most if not all the genes and thus the proteins which comprise a organism are revealed. This enables a dramatic and unprecedented understanding of the biochemical complexity and molecular architecture of a given organism in health and disease. This promise, currently being realized for humans, holds true for cattle and there now exists an international effort to sequence the bovine genome.

The project is part of the larger Bovine Genome Sequencing Project (BGSP), an international initiative to sequence the entire Bovine genome in 3 – 5 years, led by the US National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), with contributions from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service and Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; the state of Texas; Genome Canada through Genome British Columbia; the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Australia (CSIRO); Agritech Investments Ltd., Dairy Insight, Inc. and AgResearch Ltd., all of New Zealand; the Kleberg Foundation; and, the National, Texas and South Dakota Beef Check-off Funds.

While the sequencing of the full genome is important, it is not the final step in the mining of gene information. Central to the full understanding of the bovine genome is the identification of the messenger RNAs encoded by the genome. This cataloguing of the full length bovine transcripts or cDNAs leads to nothing less than the identification and primary structure of all the proteins which define the cow. This can shed light on virtually all aspects of bovine biology including those pathways involving the prion protein implicated in Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE).

The Bovine Genome Sequencing Program: Full Insert cDNA Sequencing Project at the BC Cancer Agency Genome Sciences Centre (GSC), funded by Genome Canada through Genome BC, aims to sequence 9,984 clones, each representing a unique full-length transcript, over a 3 year period.

Contact Information

For all project related inquires please contact us.

Cynthia Ferguson, Project Manager
Genome Sciences Centre, BC Cancer Agency
Email: cferguson@bcgsc.ca
Phone: 604-707-5900 x 6081
Fax: 604-876-3561