Porcine Genomic Sequencing Initiative

Rationale and Objectives. Completion of the human genome sequence provides the starting point for understanding the genetic complexity of humans and how genetic variation contributes to diverse phenotypes and disease. It is clear that model organisms have played an invaluable role in the synthesis of this understanding. It is also noted that additional species must be sequenced to resolve the genetic complexity of human evolution and to effectively extrapolate genetic information from comparative (veterinary) medicine to human medicine. Certainly the pig has been a valuable biomedical model organism and its role will expand in the future. The pig also represents an evolutionary clade distinct from primates or rodents, and thus, provides considerable power in the analysis of human genomic sequences. The pig, a domesticated eutherian mammal, has co-evolved with humans and represents a taxa with diverse selected phenotypes [Rothschild and Ruvinsky, 1998]. The pig has a central position in the scientific and veterinary medical communities that supports the utility of securing genome sequence information. Thus, this “white paper” provides scientific justification for sequencing the porcine genome (6X coverage) to identify new genes and novel regulatory elements in the pig and in humans, mice and rats. The porcine genome will serve as a reference non-primate, non-rodent, eutherian genome. The recent ability to genetically modify the porcine genome, genetically manipulate embryonic fibroblasts, and ‘clone’ genetically modified somatic cells through nuclear transfer attests to how the pig can provide relevant genetic models (of appropriate phenotypes). This further demonstrates the unique role the pig will play in biomedical research, hence warranting the value for genomic sequencing.