SGSC MISSION & Goals

The Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium (SGSC) was formed in September 2003 by academic, government and industry representatives to provide international coordination for sequencing the pig genome. The SGSC’s mission is to advance biomedical research for animal production and health by the development of DNA- based tools and products resulting from the sequencing of the swine genome. During the past 2 years, the SGSC has met bi-annually to develop a strategic roadmap for creating the required scientific resources, to integrate existing physical maps, and to create a sequencing strategy that captured international participation and a broad funding base. During the past year, SGSC members have integrated their respective physical mapping data with the goal of creating a minimal tiling path (MTP) that will be used as the sequencing template. During the recent Plant and Animal Genome meeting (January 16, 2005 San Diego, CA), presentations demonstrated that a human–pig comparative map has been completed, BAC fingerprint contigs (FPC) for each of the autosomes and X chromosome have been constructed and that BAC end-sequencing has permitted, through BLAST analysis and RH-mapping, anchoring of the contigs. Thus, significant progress has been made towards the creation of a MTP. In addition, whole-genome (WG) shotgun libraries have been constructed and are currently being sequenced in various laboratories around the globe. Thus, a hybrid sequencing approach in which 3× coverage of BACs comprising the MTP and 3× of the WG-shotgun libraries will be used to develop a draft 6× coverage of the pig genome.

Members

Gerard Albers, Nutreco
Alan L. Archibald, Roslin Institute
Craig W. Beattie, University of Illinois at Chicago
Jonathan E. Beever, University of Illinois
M. Boggess, National Pork Board, USA
Joseph P. Cassady, North Carolina State Univeristy
Patrick Chardon, INRA-Jouy-en-Joysas
Bhanu Chowdhary, Texas A & M University
Kellye Eversole, Alliance for Animal Genome Research
Merete Fredholm, KVL, Denmark
Greg Gibson, North Carolina State University
Elisabetta Giuffra, Tecnoparco, Lodi, Italy
Jan Gorodkin, KVL, Denmark
Ronnie Green, ARS-USDA
Martien Groenen, Wageningen University
Dr. Barbara Harlizius, The Institute for Pig Genetics, The Netherlands
Debora Hamernik, CSREES-USDA
Sean Humphray, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Steve Kappes, ARS-USDA, USA
B. Liu, Beijing Genome Center
Pramod Mathur, Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement
Denis Milan, INRA-Toulouse
Alan Mileham, Sygen
Sung-Jong Oh, Korean NLRI
Anna Palmisano, CSREES-USDA
F.A. Ponce de Leon, University of Minnesota
Muquarrab Qureshi, CSREES-USDA
Jane Rogers, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
Gary Rohrer, ARS-USDA
Max F. Rothschild, Iowa State University
Lawrence Schook, University of Illinois
Paul Sundberg, National Pork Board, USA
Leeb Tosso, University of Berne
H. Uenishi, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
John Webb, Maple Leaf Food
Alan Wildeman, University of Guelph
Ming Che Wu, Taiwan Livestock Research Institute
Hiroshi Yasue, NIAS