BiotechMashup

More than 90 percent of the domesticated turkey genome has been sequenced and assembled. Thousands of genes previously unknown to avian scientists have been described. Also of interest are the sequences of the sex chromosomes "Z" and "W," which were poorly covered in the past.

(Virginia Tech) Turkey is the fourth most economically important source of meat for consumers in the United States. The genome sequence and genomic resources should provide turkey breeders with the tools needed to improve commercial breeds of turkey for production traits such as meat yield and quality, health and disease resistance, and fertility and reproduction. The sequence work is now about 90 percent complete.

(Virginia Tech) A rare inbred potato created at Virginia Tech was the first to have its genome sequenced. It will be used as a draft against which the genome sequences of more complicated tubers will be compared.

(Virginia Tech) Under the supervision of a Virginia Tech plant pathologist, a group of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students isolated and characterized a formerly unknown group of bacteria.

(United States Department of Agriculture-Research, Education, and Economics) US Department of Agriculture researchers and their university colleagues have sequenced the majority of the genome of Meleagris gallopavo, the domesticated turkey, creating the first-ever turkey genome map.

(Virginia Tech) An international team of researchers led by scientists at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have sequenced the genome of an Amerindian strain of the gastric bug Helicobacter pylori, confirming the out-of-Africa migration of this bacterial stowaway to the New World. Experiments in animals have highlighted how specific genes in the bacterial strain may be crucial to the onset of inflammation and disease.

A rare inbred potato created at Virginia Tech was the first to have its genome sequenced. It will be used as a draft against which the genome sequences of more complicated tubers will be compared.

(Virginia Tech) The Potato Genome Sequencing Consortium, an international team of scientists from industry and academia in 14 countries, has released a draft sequence of the potato genome. Richard Veilleux, professor of horticulture at Virginia Tech, contributed a unique phureja type of potato variety that accelerated the development of a blueprint for one of the world's most important food crops.

(Virginia Tech) Marissa Nichole Rylander, an associate professor at Virginia Tech faculty, combines nanotechnology, laser therapy, and dynamic imaging to study tumor progression and to develop novel cancer treatments.