After nearly 20 years, an international team of scientists has completed the first draft of the genome of a domesticated pig—a development they say will spur advancements in swine production and human medicine.
The Pork Checkoff donated 750-thousand dollars toward the 24-million dollar genome project – the completion of which was announced in the U.K. on Monday. Paul Sundberg is vice president of science and technology for the National Pork Board, “This opens up the whole book on trying to understand how the pig works and how we can best utilize our tools in order to provide good, quality product for the consumer.”
Sundberg says the mapping will also contribute to better understanding of human health issues since there are similarities between swine and human physiology, “We’ll know now the differences between liver cells in a pig and a liver cell in a person and how do they respond and how do they act?”
Scientists – led by Lawrence Schook with the University of Illinois – say the draft sequence will allow researchers the chance to pinpoint genes involved in immunity and other processes in the pig – while enhancing breeding practices and offering insight into diseases that afflict pigs.
Sundberg says this is really the beginning, “It may be a period of time before we actually see this in the market but I tell you this is something that is going to help producers in the long run.”
The swine genome research (on a Duroc pig from a University of Illinois farm) is funded with grants from the USDA and various supporters in Asia, Europe and the U.S. including not only the National Pork Board, and the University of Illinois, but the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa State University, North Carolina Pork Council. The largest contributor is Britain’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute where most of the research was conducted.
Brownfield’s Ken Anderson contributed to this report
AUDIO: Paul Sundberg, Vice President of Science and Technology, National Pork Board (6 min., MP3)
University of Illinois Research – First Draft of the Pig
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