Racing towards the genes for speed

摘要

Until 15 years ago, little was understood of the equine genome, with few genes mapped and only a rudimentary type II linkage map available to the research community (Chowdhary and Raudsepp, 2008). This changed rapidly when a series of International Equine Gene Mapping Workshops (IEGMW) was initiated, supported by the Dorothy Russell Havemeyer Foundation. More than 200 scientists have participated in a truly unique environment of collaboration (Bailey, 2010) to develop shared resources for the international equine research community. The genetic resources include framework maps, high density single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) marker panels and gene expression arrays, culminating in the recent publication of the draft horse genome sequence (Wade et al., 2009), supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute. This achievement marks the beginning of a new genomic era in understanding the cause, diagnosis and treatment of equine traits.