Medical Research Council (MRC) scientists have ended lengthy scientific speculation by confirming that chickens have an acute sense of smell. This is just is just one surprising fact uncovered by the MRC team studying the evolution of genes as part of the International Chicken Genome Sequencing Project. More importantly, they discovered that by tracking the genetic changes over the 300 million years since mammals and birds diverged on the tree of life, they could pinpoint the most essential and promising areas of the human genome for future medical research.

The full draft from the international consortium working on the International Chicken Sequencing Project and details of all the scientists and organisations supporting the work, are published today (18.00 hrs 8 December 2004) in the scientific journal Nature.*

The MRC team, led by Prof Chris Ponting at the MRC Functional Genetics Unit in Oxford worked closely with 170 researchers from 49 countries, to interpret the genome of the chicken (Gallus gallus).

The international consortium concluded that only two and a half per cent of the human genome can be matched to chicken DNA. This small portion contains genes that have been largely preserved over hundreds of millions of years and thus are crucial to the survival of both birds and humans. Because these genes are so important for normal bodily function, mutations that cause disease are much more likely to be found in these regions of the genome.

Scientists can now therefore focus their attention on a much smaller fraction of the human genome.

The chicken might not seem the most obvious animal to help scientists understand the function of human genes. But for many years the chicken has played important roles in biomedical research, and this has led to important advances in immunology, developmental biology and cancer research.

The chicken genome will help scientists understand more about crucial sections of the human genome, which should improve our understanding of the role of these genes in health and disease.

It's not the first time that Prof Chris Ponting has turned 'gene detective', delving into the evolutionary past of animals to increase knowledge and understanding of our own genetic heritage. He has previously played an instrumental role in unravelling the evolutionary secrets of mouse and rat genomes, as well as the human genome.

Commenting on this latest work, he said: "Looking at mice, rats, and now the chicken, all of which are removed from us at different distances, is like peering through a collection of evolutionary lenses: each brings contrasting aspects of human biology into sharp focus.

"The chicken is important for two reasons. Firstly, three out of four human disease genes have counterparts in the chicken, which we can now use to learn more about human inherited disorders.

"Secondly, it shows that we have much to learn from animals that are vastly different from ourselves. Like all other animals we are accumulating changes to our genes all the time. Only the bits of the genome that are most crucial to our survival are still recognisable after millions of years. DNA that both we and chickens share is likely to be fundamental to our wellbeing. I 'm sure this research is going to make it much easier for medical researchers to pinpoint genetic changes that affect human heath and disease".

Notes:

Gallus Gallus, the chicken, is the first bird to have its genome sequenced by scientists.

Details are published in the following papers in Nature vol 432 2004 (9 December 2004): International Chicken Genome Sequencing Consortium: Sequence and comparative analysis of the chicken genome provide unique perspectives on vertebrate evolution.

International Chicken Polymorphism Map Consortium: A genetic variation map for chicken with 2.8million single nucleotide polymorphisms.
Wallis et al: A physical map of the chicken genome.

Vol 432, Issue 7018 pp. 675-716 (sequence paper) pp. 717-722 (Genetic variation map) pp. 761-764 (physical map)

http://www.chicken-genome.org
http://www.chicken-genome.org

http://chicken.genomics.org.cn/index.jsp

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is a national organisation funded by the UK tax-payer. Its business is medical research aimed at improving human health; everyone stands to benefit from the outputs. The research it supports and the scientists it trains meet the needs of the health services, the pharmaceutical and other health-related industries and the academic world. MRC has funded work which has led to some of the most significant discoveries and achievements in medicine in the UK. About half of the MRC's expenditure of 450 million is invested in its 40 Institutes, Units and Centres. The remaining half goes in the form of grant support and training awards to individuals and teams in universities and medical schools. Web site at:
http://www.mrc.ac.uk

* EMBL-Bank (www.ebi.ac.uk/embl/) at the EMBL-EBI
* Ensembl Genome Browser (www.ensembl.org) at the EMBL-EBI and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
* GenBank (www.ncbi.nih.gov/Genbank) at the US National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
* DNA Data Bank of Japan (www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp).
* UCSC Genome Browser (www.genome.ucsc.edu/) at theUniversity of California, Santa Cruz
* NCBI's Map Viewer (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mapview/).