Whole-genome sequencing of cryopreserved resources from French Large White pigs at two distinct sampling times reveals strong signatures of convergent and divergent selection between the dam and sire lines.

Background: Numerous genomic scans for positive selection have been performed in livestock species within the last decade, but often a detailed characterization of the detected regions (gene or trait under selection, timing of selection events) is lacking. Cryopreserved resources stored in reproductive or DNA gene banks offer a great opportunity to improve this characterization by providing direct access to recent allele frequency dynamics, thereby differentiating between signatures from recent breeding objectives and those related to more ancient selection constraints. Improved characterization can also be achieved by using next-generation sequencing data, which helps narrowing the size of the detected regions while reducing the number of associated candidate genes.

An integrative atlas of chicken long non-coding genes and their annotations across 25 tissues.

Long non-coding RNAs (LNC) regulate numerous biological processes. In contrast to human, the identification of LNC in farm species, like chicken, is still lacunar. We propose a catalogue of 52,075 chicken genes enriched in LNC ( http://www.

Molecular signatures of muscle growth and composition deciphered by the meta-analysis of age-related public transcriptomics data.

The lean-to-fat ratio is a major issue in the beef meat industry from both carcass and meat production perspectives. This industrial perspective has motivated meat physiologists to use transcriptomics technologies to decipher mechanisms behind fat deposition within muscle during the time course of muscle growth. However, synthetic biological information from this volume of data remains to be produced to identify mechanisms found in various breeds and rearing practices.

The MACADAM database: a MetAboliC pAthways DAtabase for Microbial taxonomic groups for mining potential metabolic capacities of archaeal and bacterial taxonomic groups.

Progress in genome sequencing and bioinformatics opens up new possibilities, including that of correlating genome annotations with functional information such as metabolic pathways. Thanks to the development of functional annotation databases, scientists are able to link genome annotations with functional annotations. We present MetAboliC pAthways DAtabase for Microbial taxonomic groups (MACADAM) here, a user-friendly database that makes it possible to find presence/absence/completeness statistics for metabolic pathways at a given microbial taxonomic position.

Accounting for linkage disequilibrium in genome scans for selection without individual genotypes: The local score approach.

Detecting genomic footprints of selection is an important step in the understanding of evolution. Accounting for linkage disequilibrium in genome scans increases detection power, but haplotype-based methods require individual genotypes and are not applicable on pool-sequenced samples. We propose to take advantage of the local score approach to account for linkage disequilibrium in genome scans for selection, cumulating (possibly small) signals from single markers over a genomic segment, to clearly pinpoint a selection signal.

GWAS analyses reveal QTL in egg layers that differ in response to diet differences.

Background: The genetic architecture of egg production and egg quality traits, i.e. the quantitative trait loci (QTL) that influence these traits, is still poorly known.

Genome-Wide Characterization of RNA Editing in Chicken Embryos Reveals Common Features among Vertebrates.

RNA editing results in a post-transcriptional nucleotide change in the RNA sequence that creates an alternative nucleotide not present in the DNA sequence. This leads to a diversification of transcription products with potential functional consequences. Two nucleotide substitutions are mainly described in animals, from adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) and from cytidine to uridine (C-to-U).

A medium density genetic map and QTL for behavioral and production traits in Japanese quail.

Background: Behavioral traits such as sociability, emotional reactivity and aggressiveness are major factors in animal adaptation to breeding conditions. In order to investigate the genetic control of these traits as well as their relationships with production traits, a study was undertaken on a large second generation cross (F2) between two lines of Japanese Quail divergently selected on their social reinstatement behavior. All the birds were measured for several social behaviors (social reinstatement, response to social isolation, sexual motivation, aggression), behaviors measuring the emotional reactivity of the birds (reaction to an unknown object, tonic immobility reaction), and production traits (body weight and egg production).

Genetic variants within the second intron of the KCNQ1 gene affect CTCF binding and confer a risk of Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome upon maternal transmission.

Background: Disruption of 11p15 imprinting results in two fetal growth disorders with opposite phenotypes: the Beckwith-Wiedemann (BWS; MIM 130650) and the Silver-Russell (SRS; MIM 180860) syndromes. DNA methylation defects account for 60% of BWS and SRS cases and, in most cases, occur without any identified mutation in a cis-acting regulatory sequence or a trans-acting factor.

Methods: We investigated whether 11p15 cis-acting sequence variants account for primary DNA methylation defects in patients with SRS and BWS with loss of DNA methylation at ICR1 and ICR2, respectively.

The rainbow trout genome provides novel insights into evolution after whole-genome duplication in vertebrates.

Vertebrate evolution has been shaped by several rounds of whole-genome duplications (WGDs) that are often suggested to be associated with adaptive radiations and evolutionary innovations. Due to an additional round of WGD, the rainbow trout genome offers a unique opportunity to investigate the early evolutionary fate of a duplicated vertebrate genome. Here we show that after 100 million years of evolution the two ancestral subgenomes have remained extremely collinear, despite the loss of half of the duplicated protein-coding genes, mostly through pseudogenization.

A genome-wide association study of production traits in a commercial population of Large White pigs: evidence of haplotypes affecting meat quality.

Background: Numerous quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been detected in pigs over the past 20 years using microsatellite markers. However, due to the low density of these markers, the accuracy of QTL location has generally been poor. Since 2009, the dense genome coverage provided by the Illumina PorcineSNP60 BeadChip has made it possible to more accurately map QTL using genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

Transcriptome-wide investigation of genomic imprinting in chicken.

Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic mechanism by which alleles of some specific genes are expressed in a parent-of-origin manner. It has been observed in mammals and marsupials, but not in birds. Until now, only a few genes orthologous to mammalian imprinted ones have been analyzed in chicken and did not demonstrate any evidence of imprinting in this species.

Analyses of pig genomes provide insight into porcine demography and evolution.

For 10,000 years pigs and humans have shared a close and complex relationship. From domestication to modern breeding practices, humans have shaped the genomes of domestic pigs. Here we present the assembly and analysis of the genome sequence of a female domestic Duroc pig (Sus scrofa) and a comparison with the genomes of wild and domestic pigs from Europe and Asia.

Fine mapping of complex traits in non-model species: using next generation sequencing and advanced intercross lines in Japanese quail.

Background: As for other non-model species, genetic analyses in quail will benefit greatly from a higher marker density, now attainable thanks to the evolution of sequencing and genotyping technologies. Our objective was to obtain the first genome wide panel of Japanese quail SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) and to use it for the fine mapping of a QTL for a fear-related behaviour, namely tonic immobility, previously localized on Coturnix japonica chromosome 1. To this aim, two reduced representations of the genome were analysed through high-throughput 454 sequencing: AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) fragments as representatives of genomic DNA, and EST (Expressed Sequence Tag) as representatives of the transcriptome.

SigReannot-mart: a query environment for expression microarray probe re-annotations.

Expression microarrays are commonly used to study transcriptomes. Most of the arrays are now based on oligo-nucleotide probes. Probe design being a tedious task, it often takes place once at the beginning of the project.

Analysis of BAC-end sequences in rainbow trout: content characterization and assessment of synteny between trout and other fish genomes.

Background: Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are cultivated worldwide for aquaculture production and are widely used as a model species to gain knowledge of many aspects of fish biology. The common ancestor of the salmonids experienced a whole genome duplication event, making extant salmonids such as the rainbow trout an excellent model for studying the evolution of tetraploidization and re-diploidization in vertebrates. However, the lack of a reference genome sequence hampers research progress for both academic and applied purposes.

Design of a high density SNP genotyping assay in the pig using SNPs identified and characterized by next generation sequencing technology.

Background: The dissection of complex traits of economic importance to the pig industry requires the availability of a significant number of genetic markers, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). This study was conducted to discover several hundreds of thousands of porcine SNPs using next generation sequencing technologies and use these SNPs, as well as others from different public sources, to design a high-density SNP genotyping assay.

Methodology/principal Findings: A total of 19 reduced representation libraries derived from four swine breeds (Duroc, Landrace, Large White, Pietrain) and a Wild Boar population and three restriction enzymes (AluI, HaeIII and MspI) were sequenced using Illumina's Genome Analyzer (GA).

Identification of differential gene expression in in vitro FSH treated pig granulosa cells using suppression subtractive hybridization.

FSH, which binds to specific receptors on granulosa cells in mammals, plays a key role in folliculogenesis. Its biological activity involves stimulation of intercellular communication and upregulation of steroidogenesis, but the entire spectrum of the genes regulated by FSH has yet to be fully characterized. In order to find new regulated transcripts, however rare, we have used a Suppression Subtractive Hybridization approach (SSH) on pig granulosa cells in primary culture treated or not with FSH.

GeneFarm, structural and functional annotation of Arabidopsis gene and protein families by a network of experts.

Genomic projects heavily depend on genome annotations and are limited by the current deficiencies in the published predictions of gene structure and function. It follows that, improved annotation will allow better data mining of genomes, and more secure planning and design of experiments. The purpose of the GeneFarm project is to obtain homogeneous, reliable, documented and traceable annotations for Arabidopsis nuclear genes and gene products, and to enter them into an added-value database.

Automatic design of gene-specific sequence tags for genome-wide functional studies.

Motivation: The availability of complete genome sequences allows the identification of short DNA segments that are specific to each annotated gene. Such unique gene sequence tags (GSTs) replace advantageously cDNAs in microarray transcript profiling experiments. In particular, probes corresponding to individual members of multigene families can be chosen carefully to avoid cross-hybridization events.

PlantCARE, a database of plant cis-acting regulatory elements and a portal to tools for in silico analysis of promoter sequences.

PlantCARE is a database of plant cis-acting regulatory elements, enhancers and repressors. Regulatory elements are represented by positional matrices, consensus sequences and individual sites on particular promoter sequences. Links to the EMBL, TRANSFAC and MEDLINE databases are provided when available.

Gene prediction and gene classes in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Gene prediction methods for eukaryotic genomes still are not fully satisfying. One way to improve gene prediction accuracy, proven to be relevant for prokaryotes, is to consider more than one model of genes. Thus, we used our classification of Arabidopsis thaliana genes in two classes (CU(1) and CU(2)), previously delineated according to statistical features, in the GeneMark gene identification program.

PPMdb: a plant plasma membrane database.

PPMdb is a proteome database dedicated to proteins from plant plasma membranes. It provides comprehensive two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) maps, partial amino acid sequences and expression data. All this information is gathered and structured in a relational database, after being analyzed and annotated.

Evaluation of gene prediction software using a genomic data set: application to Arabidopsis thaliana sequences.

Motivation: The annotation of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome remains a problem in terms of time and quality. To improve the annotation process, we want to choose the most appropriate tools to use inside a computer-assisted annotation platform. We therefore need evaluation of prediction programs with Arabidopsis sequences containing multiple genes.