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Genomics

Pecking away at evolution

Nature Reviews Genetics volume 6, pages 4–5 (2005)Cite this article

Chickens are both the first agricultural animal to be sequenced and an important laboratory model system, contributing to Nobel prize-winning advances in immunology, developmental biology and cancer research. Chicken DT40 cells are used in laboratories around the world for homologous recombination of large sequences, and the well-studied chromatin-binding factor CTCF is among several proteins and genes that were originally identified in chicken. The current genome assembly for chicken is now reported by the International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium: it covers more than 95% of the bird's one billion euchromatic base pairs, including all 10 autosomal macrochromosomes, both the Z and W sex chromosomes, and two-thirds of the 28 microchromosomes. This assembly benefits from both whole-genome shotgun and some BAC-based sequencing, linking it to the physical map that is described by Wallis et al. in the same issue. The chicken genome is about three times smaller than that of the human, mainly owing to fewer repeated elements; this is the first vertebrate genome so far to show no active SINE elements in its recent history, resulting in the absence of one of the largest categories of interspersed elements known in vertebrate genomes.

For example, genetic research in chicken has focused on the breeding of more productive strains for meat and egg production and improvements in animal health and welfare — by reducing infectious disease and aggressive behaviours such as pecking their neighbours. Large commercial breeding programmes and several inbred lines have allowed geneticists to immediately apply the genomic information. These efforts will be greatly aided by the comparison — carried out by the International Chicken Polymorphism Map Consortium — of the red jungle fowl, the wild predecessor strain of which the genome was sequenced, with three domestic lines. By re-sequencing bits of each genome, the consortium has discovered over 2.8 million SNPs, which will be used to map traits that are both unique to chickens and are shared between some chicken and human diseases.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPERS

  1. The International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium. Sequence and comparative analysis of the chicken genome provide unique perspectives on vertebrate evolution. Nature 432, 695–716 (2004)

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  2. International Chicken Polymorphism Map Consortium. A genetic variation map for chicken with 2.8 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Nature 432, 717–722 (2004)

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Wallis J. W. et al. A physical map of the chicken genome. Nature 432, 761–764 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

FURTHER READING

  1. Schmutz, J. & Grimwood, J. Fowl sequence. Nature 432, 679–680 (2004)

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  1. Senior Editor, Nature,

    Chris Gunter

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  1. Chris Gunter
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Gunter, C. Pecking away at evolution. Nat Rev Genet 6, 4–5 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1518

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