Robert B. Weiss

TL;DR: The results of an international collaboration to produce a high-quality draft sequence of the mouse genome are reported and an initial comparative analysis of the Mouse and human genomes is presented, describing some of the insights that can be gleaned from the two sequences.

TL;DR: This first comprehensive analysis of the genome sequence of the Brown Norway (BN) rat strain is reported, which is the third complete mammalian genome to be deciphered, and three-way comparisons with the human and mouse genomes resolve details of mammalian evolution.

Abstract: 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.

TL;DR: Evidence suggests that NF1 encodes a cytoplasmic GAP-like protein that may be involved in the control of cell growth by interacting with proteins such as the RAS gene product.

TL;DR: The TBR gene is established as the NF1 gene and a description of a major segment of the gene is provided, indicating base pair changes in the gene.