The chicken reference assembly defines a standard upon which other avian whole genome studies are based. Providing the best representation of the chicken genome is essential for facilitating continued progress in understanding and improving human health as this species serves as a model organism similar to mouse, zebrafish and other vertebrates.
The chicken genome project was an international research collaboration coordinated by the McDonnell Genome Institute with initial funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and later U.S. Department of Agriculture whose shared goals were to determine the sequence of the chicken chromosomes and identify and map all chicken genes. The project began in 2002 and the initial draft was completed and published in Nature in 2004. The initial draft assembly was based on whole genome Sanger sequencing and the finishing of selected BACs. Subsequent assembled versions were released as new sequencing technology developed. The International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium efforts resulted in significant technology, tool, and resource development that continues to have a significant impact on the use of this species in agriculture and other life sciences.
The Genome Reference Consortium (GRC) was formed in 2008 to maintain the reference assembly for the human genome. The goals of this group are to correct regions that are misrepresented, to close remaining gaps, and to produce alternative assemblies of structurally variant loci. The consortium does experimental work to address gaps or sub-optimal sequence regions and has developed the infrastructure to review and curate assembly joins. The GRC consists of: The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, The Genome Center at Washington University, The European Bioinformatics Institute, the Zebrafish Information Network and The National Center for Biotechnology Information. The public can see regions under review and report genome problems at the GRC website, http://genomereference.org.
The latest version of the chicken assembly is Gallus_gallus-5.0, assembly accession.version GCA_000002315.3, submitted by the International Chicken Genome Consortium. Less...