Genome sequence of the Brown Norway rat yields insights into mammalian evolution.

Journal article

The laboratory rat (Rattus norvegicus) is an indispensable tool in experimental medicine and drug development, having made inestimable contributions to human health. We report here the genome sequence of the Brown Norway (BN) rat strain. The sequence represents a high-quality 'draft' covering over 90% of the genome. The BN rat sequence is the third complete mammalian genome to be deciphered, and three-way comparisons with the human and mouse genomes resolve details of mammalian evolution. This first comprehensive analysis includes genes and proteins and their relation to human disease, repeated sequences, comparative genome-wide studies of mammalian orthologous chromosomal regions and rearrangement breakpoints, reconstruction of ancestral karyotypes and the events leading to existing species, rates of variation, and lineage-specific and lineage-independent evolutionary events such as expansion of gene families, orthology relations and protein evolution.

Authors: Gibbs, R; Weinstock, G; Metzker, M; Muzny, D; Sodergren, E

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Nature
• Volume: 428
• Issue: 6982
• Pages: 493-521
• Publication date: 2004-04-01
• DOI: 10.1038/nature02426
• EISSN: 1476-4687
• ISSN: 0028-0836
• Language: English
• Keywords: Gene Duplication; Rat Genome Sequencing Project Consortium; Genomics; Humans; Models, Molecular; Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; Mice; Mutagenesis; Rats, Inbred BN; Animals; RNA, Untranslated; DNA, Mitochondrial; DNA Transposable Elements; Male; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Genome; Introns; Evolution, Molecular; Centromere; CpG Islands; Retroelements; Chromosomes, Mammalian; Telomere; Base Composition; RNA Splice Sites; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Rats