Prediction of genes and regulatory elements in farm animal genomes
We are improving the quality of reference genomes and creating atlases for transcriptomes and epigenomes across developmental stages and diverse cell and tissue types.
Following on from the human genome, the major farm animal genomes were sequenced in the early 2000s, with The Roslin Institute playing a key role. However, since then farm animal genomes have received less attention than the human genome. We are aiming to address this knowledge gap by investigating the expression, function and regulation of genes in farm animals.
Organisms carry the same genetic information in every cell, but different gene expression patterns give rise to different cell types and tissues. Understanding these gene expression patterns will help us to interpret the impact of genetic variation on farmed animal populations and provides the raw material to select for traits associated with improved performance.
Much of our current research in this area is set in the context of the international Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG) initiative.
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Research Highlights
Examples of previous and current work in this area:
A high quality reference genome for pigs

A high quality reference genome for sheep

Hugely improved annotation of the chicken genome

Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes
