Same Section of Thirteen Vertebrate Genomes Compared
A comparison of the same genomic region in different vertebrates has indicated that multi-species analyses might point to functionally important parts of the human genome.
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| The study compared the sequence of a selected genomic region in 13 species: human, chimpanzee, baboon, cat, dog, cow, pig, rat, mouse, chicken, zebra fish, and two pufferfish, Fugu and Tetraodon. |
In the Aug. 13 Nature, scientists compared the sequence of a selected genomic region in 13 species: human, chimpanzee, baboon, cat, dog, cow, pig, rat, mouse, chicken, zebra fish, and two pufferfish, Fugu and Tetraodon.
Dr. Eric Green, National Human Genome Research Institute scientific director, headed the team of scientists from Pennsylvania State University, University of California Santa Cruz, and the University of Washington. The Seattle scientists were Dr. Phil Green, professor of genome sciences, and Dr. A.F. Smit of the Institute for Systems Biology.
The investigators looked at changes, called transposon insertions, in each species' sequences. The patterns suggest that primates are more closely related to rodents than to carnivores or artiodactyls.
Although general genome changes were alike among the 13 animals studied, differences in the contributions of changes have, over evolutionary time, sculpted each species' characteristic form.
Multi-species studies will be prominent in another National Human Genome Research Institute project, Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE), a cataloging of all functional elements of the human genome sequence.