Chickens' genes unscrambled

2004-03-08 07:41

Washington - US scientists have mapped the genome of the chicken, the first avian genome to be sequenced.

The researchers at Washington University in St Louis made their mapping of the genome of the red jungle fowl, which is the ancestor of domestic chickens, and said it contained one billion base pairs of DNA, compared to the three billion found in humans.

The findings, which are in their initial form and are to be refined, were deposited into databases for free public access by biomedical and agricultural researchers around the globe, the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, said last week.

The institute said recent outbreaks of bird flu have heightened interest in the chicken genome.

Researchers at the Beijing Genomics Institute in China also used the chicken genome to map the genetic variations of three different breeds of domestic chickens, and the data on the variations is also to soon be released to researchers, the US institute said.

The chicken genome could help determine how genetic variations play a role in susceptibility to different strains of bird flu and other diseases.

It can also help scientists better understand genes, which build and maintain the body, and how they work, shedding light on human diseases as well.

The chicken was important as a subject because of its crucial role as food as well as in biomedical research. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA