Pig Genome Update No. 112

The Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium is pleased to announce that we have reached another significant milestone The International Society of Animal Genetics (ISAG) 2012 Conference is around the corner NRSP-8 rewrite is progressing well SNP chip update Upcoming meetings

The Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium is pleased to announce that we have. reached another significant milestone in the Pig Genome Project. We have completed the manuscript describing the generation, analysis and annotation of a high quality draft reference pig genome sequence. The manuscript has been submitted for publication and is currently under review.

The manuscript entitled "Pig genomes provide insight into porcine demography, domestication and evolution" describes not only the generation and analysis of a high quality draft reference genome sequence of a single domesticated pig (Sus scrofa) but also the analysis of 16 other individual genomes including both 10 European and Asian wild boar (Sus scrofa) and 6 domesticated pigs. Amongst, the major farmed animal species the pig is unique in as much as the wild ancestors (wild boar from Europe and Asia) from which it was domesticated are still extant. The analyses provide new insights into the demography of wild boar and their subsequent domestication. For example, we have evidence of a deep phylogenetic split between Asian and European wild boar which points to their divergence about 1 million years ago. Our analyses provide further insight in the domestication of the pig in the past 10,000 years as well as the more recent development of specific breeds.

Analysis of the pig genome and its gene content in an evolutionary context has revealed accelerated evolution of genes associated with immune response and olfaction. Olfaction is clearly important to this scavenging animal. The pig is not only an important agricultural species (pork is the most widely consumed meat globally) but also an important biomedical model. The 1000 Genomes project has revealed that humans carry a burden of potential loss of function mutations. Analysis of individual pig genomes has revealed similar mutations. These mutations potentially extend the scope of the pig as a biomedical model. This manuscript represents the efforts of the Consortium and the authors include scientists from over 50 laboratories in 12 different countries. The Consortium is associated with a series of companion papers of which 17 are currently under review, revision or in press in BMC journals with a further 5-10 in draft (kindly provided by Alan Archibald on behalf of the Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium).