Commentary
Nature Genetics 40, 523 - 527 (2008)
doi:10.1038/ng0508-523
What everybody should know about the rat genome and its online resources
Simon N Twigger1, Kim D Pruitt2, Xosé M Fernández-Suárez3, Donna Karolchik4, Kim C Worley5, Donna R Maglott2, Garth Brown2, George Weinstock5, Richard A Gibbs5, Jim Kent4, Ewan Birney3 & Howard J Jacob1
- Simon N. Twigger and Howard J. Jacob are at the Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226, USA.
- Kim D. Pruitt, Donna R. Maglott and Garth Brown are at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland 20894, USA.
- Xosé M. Fernández-Suárez and Ewan Birney are at the European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SD, UK.
- Donna Karolchik and Jim Kent are at the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
- Kim C. Worley, George Weinstock and Richard A. Gibbs are at the Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Correspondence to: Simon N Twigger1 e-mail: simont@hmgc.mcw.edu
Abstract
It has been four years since the original publication of the draft sequence of the rat genome. Five groups are now working together to assemble, annotate and release an updated version of the rat genome. As the prevailing model for physiology, complex disease and pharmacological studies, there is an acute need for the rat's genomic resources to keep pace with the rat's prominence in the laboratory. In this commentary, we describe the current status of the rat genome sequence and the plans for its impending 'upgrade'. We then cover the key online resources providing access to the rat genome, including the new SNP views at Ensembl, the RefSeq and Genes databases at the US National Center for Biotechnology Information, Genome Browser at the University of California Santa Cruz and the disease portals for cardiovascular disease and obesity at the Rat Genome Database.
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