Title: Avian Genomes: Important Resources for Understanding Vertebrate Biology
Volume: 6
Issue: 2
Author(s): E. J. Smith, D. Kamara, G. Pimentel, T. Geng, X. Guan, K. Lin and S. Hartman
Affiliation:
Keywords:
avian genomics, chicken dna sequence, snps, functional genomics
Abstract: The recent completion of the draft of the chicken genome sequence, the first for an agriculturally important animal species, confirms the utility of this extensively-studied and most understood avian species, as well as the utility of other little-studied birds in vertebrate biology and human medicine. The emerging information from the chicken genome is expected to increase our understanding of phenomena important in human biology and that of other avian and livestock species. Insight into the genomes of the chicken and other birds may help us validate and also discover genetic mechanisms that underlie many important human diseases and conditions. An understanding of the budgerigar genome,