Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Pig Genome Newsletter #041
P I G G E N O M E U P D A T E
__________________________________________________________________
A Bimonthly Newsletter of the U.S. Pig Genome Coordination Program
************** No. 41 **************
* *
* <angenmap@db.genome.iastate.edu> *
* March 1, 2000 *
**************************************
===========================================================================
1. The Plant & Animal Genome VIII (PAG-VIII) and the NRSP-8 Meetings Held
2. The Fourth Swine Workshop for NRSP-8 Species Committee Members Help
3. More Money Maybe: Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems
4. Set IX Fluorescent Primers Are Ready for Shipment
5. Update on ISAG 2000 Preparations
6. Upcoming Meetings (5 Items)
===========================================================================
The Plant & Animal Genome VIII (PAG-VIII) and the NRSP-8 meetings were
recently held in sunny San Diego. PAG-VIII attendance grew again this year
to 1,500 registrants plus 68 exhibitors. Industry booths more than
doubled, and over 600 posters were exhibited in excellent, well-attended
poster sessions. Abstracts can be viewed at the PAG-VIII website,
http://www.intl-pag.org/pag. The main talks included a description of new
applications of chip technology by Affymetrix's Robert Lipschutz, error
free SNP analysis by Charli Rodi of Sequenom, Inc., tomato QTL cloning by
Dani Zamir (Hebrew U.), applications of transgenic mice to genomics by
Edward Rubin (LBNL/Berkeley), announcement of the identity of the pig RN
allele-encoding gene by Leif Andersson (Uppsala), IBD and linkage
disequilibrium studies in dairy cattle by Michel Georges (Liege) and
narrowing of the search for the callipyge gene (sheep) to 25 kb by Noelle
Cockett (Utah State). The meeting concluded with the banquet on Wednesday
night where good times were enjoyed by all. PAGIX was followed directly by
the first Ag Microbial Genome meeting with 160 registrants, about half of
whom were holdovers from PAG-VIII. Congratulations to Christy Gladney of
the University of Nebraska who received the Neal Jorgensen Travel Award
this year from the US Pig Genome Coordinator. Our special thanks got to
Steve Heller, who is to be congratulated for organizing another fine PAG
meeting. Suggestions for next year's PAG speakers or other comments on the
meeting can be emailed to mfrothsc@iastate.edu or sent via the PAG website
noted above.
o o o o o o o o o o o
The fourth annual Swine Workshop for NRSP-8 swine species committee members
and other attendees was held in conjunction with the Plant and Animal
Genome VIII meeting in San Diego on January 9, 2000 and was organized by
Deryl Troyer. There were five invited speaker presentations by Gary Rohrer
(USDA-MARC), Dirk-Jan deKoning (Wagenengen Institute of Animal Sciences,
the Netherlands), Hiroshi Yasue (National Institute of Animal Industry,
Japan), Becky Emnet (Ohio State - for David Meeker), and Vernon Pursel
(USDA-BARC). The Workshop was well attended by over 80 people. Individual
Experiment Station reports were given throughout the day and revealed
significant progress in development of the comparative map as well as new
marker development and the identification of new QTL genes or chromosomal
regions harboring QTL. During the business meeting, Jon Beever was
elected to the secretary position (kindly provided by Deryl Troyer).
o o o o o o o o o o o
More Money Maybe!! At PAG VIII, CSREES officials were informed that USDA
Secretary Glickman has authorized spending the $120 million available this
year under the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems. We were
told to expect new competitive grant programs later this year in animal,
microbial, and plant agricultural genomics funded at approximately $10
million for each. The Future Agriculture Initiative was authorized a
couple of years ago for five years at $120 million/year. However, the U.S.
House previously has blocked USDA from making any expenditures under the
program (despite Senate support). In the rush to finish this year's
budget, that exclusion was left out of the Ag Appropriations language, so
the Secretary has decided to spend it. One never knows in Washington, but
it is likely that the House will try to stop further expenditures in the
Program next year, so this may well be a one-time-only offer! The language
of the new requests for proposals is being drafted now, but it is likely
that one will have only the minimum possible (6 weeks) lead time for
submitting an application. The authorization language requires some
education and extension component in all grants. The best guess is that
the RFP will favor larger, multi-investigator awards in comparison to the
usual NRI-type grants. The new program will not be administered directly by
NRI. Additional details will be supplied as available (kindly supplied by
J. Dodgson).
o o o o o o o o o o o
They are ready for shipment! Set IX fluorescent primers is available for
distribution now. Check our web site for details. This brings the total
number of fluorescent primer pairs distributed by the U.S. Pig Genome
Coordinator to 468 pairs. Primer information is at:
http://www.genome.iastate.edu/resources/fprimerintr.html. To order Set IX
fluorescent primers, please send your request, along with your detailed
postal address and your daytime phone number (required), to
mfrothsc@iastate.edu. Please continue to make use of them and also be sure
to acknowledge their source as it helps to improve cooperation and
coordination activities. Please also send requests of new microsatellite
primers for genome scans to M. Rothschild so that the next set can include
further suggestions from the pig genome community.
o o o o o o o o o o o
ISAG 2000, the 27th International Conference on Animal Genetics will be
held July 22-26, 2000 at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Schedule and registration information are available at
http://www.cvm.umn.edu/research/isag2000/home.htm. Plans for the swine
genome workshop are underway. If you have comments or questions on this
workshop please contact Dr. Gary Rohrer at rohrer@email.marc.usda.gov.
Limited travel funding to help US participants may be available. Please
contact the US Pig Genome Coordinator at mfrothsc@iastate.edu.
o o o o o o o o o o o
Upcoming meetings (for more details see:
http://www.genome.iastate.edu/community/meetings.html)
ASAS/ADSA Midwestern Section Meeting, March 13-15, 2000, Des Moines, IA
see: http://www.asas.org/midwestern/index.html.
The 14th International Congress Animal Reproduction, July 2-6, 2000,
Swedish University of Agriculatural Sciences, S-750 Uppsala, Sweden,
Contact: Hans Gustafsson, at hans.gustafsson@og.slu.se.
International Society of Animal Genetics: Minneapolis, MN, USA will be held
July 24-27, 2000. Contact Brian Kirkpatrick at bwkirkpat@facstaff.wisc.edu.
American Society of Animal Science National Meeting, July 24-28, Baltimore,
MD. For details please contact http://www.baltimore2k.org.
Plant and Animal Genome IX, joint with the NAGRP annual meetings, Jan.
14-17, 2001, Town & Country Convention Center, San Diego, CA. See:
http://www.intl-pag.org/
Other events can be found at the following web site:
http://www.agbiotechnet.com/calendar/index.asp/
<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>
Items for Pig Genome Update 42 can be sent to me by no later than April 10
please.
Max Rothschild
U.S. Pig Genome Coordinator
2255 Kildee Hall, Department of Animal Science
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011
Phone: 515-294-6202, Fax: 515-294-2401
mfrothsc@iastate.edu
cc: Dick Frahm, CSREES and Caird Rexroad II, ARS
============================================================================
U.S. PIG GENOME COORDINATION PROJECT
+-----------------------------------+
| Paid for by funds from the NRSP-8 | Web: http://www.genome.iastate.edu
| USDA/CSREES sponsored Pig Genome |
| Coordination Program | List: angenmap@db.genome.iastate.edu
+-----------------------------------+
============================================================================
