ARS | Publication request: UPDATE ON SWINE DISEASE AND GENOMICS RESEARCH

Submitted to: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Science Forum
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: September 21, 2008
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: This review will summarize advances in swine genomics and how it has altered approaches for swine disease and vaccination research. The swine has been a major biomedical model species, for transplantation, heart disease, allergies and asthma, as well as normal neonatal development and reproductive physiology. Swine have been used extensively for studies of infectious disease processes and analyses of preventative strategies, including test of vaccines and their adjuvants, as well as drug and biotherapeutics screening. Local mucosal tissue development and responses to infection can be monitored in normal and in gnotobiotic piglets, affirming the role of tissue and immune activation in disease responses. Recent advances in swine genome sequencing and availability of genomic tools, e.g., microarrays and realtime assays of gene expression, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and microsatellites for genome mapping, along with evolving tools for proteomic analyses have enabled researchers to assess genomic influences in these models. This review will discuss new approaches being used to probe pathways regulating normal development as well as disease processes. It will highlight opportunities that are now open to more fully explore swine biomedical models using genomic tools.