Farm animal genomics and informatics: an update

Farm animal genomics is of interest to a wide audi-ence of researchers because of the utility derived from understanding how genomics and proteomics func-tion in various organisms. Applications such as xeno-transplantation, increased livestock productivity, bioengineering new materials, products and even fab-rics are several reasons for thriving farm animal gen-ome activity. Currently mined in rapidly growing data warehouses, completed genomes of chicken, fish and cows are available but are largely stored in decentral-ized data repositories. In this paper, we provide an informatics primer on farm animal bioinformatics and genome project resources which drive attention to the most recent advances in the field. We hope to provide individuals in biotechnology and in the farm-ing industry with information on resources and updates concerning farm animal genome projects. PRELUDE The omics and bioinformatics Genomics is the scientific study of structure, function and interrelationships of both individual genes and the genome in its entirety (1). The field has evolved from identifying short nucleotide strings of DNA to the sequencing of an organism’s complete genome. Current progress in genomics research has facilitated comprehensive mapping of the build-ing blocks of biology (2). Ultimately, researchers hope to gain mastery over the fundamental description of cellular function at the DNA level (3). This would encompass gene regulation, in which proteins often regulate their own production or that of other proteins in a complex web of interactions. Databases can be developed to provide solutions to problems that people encounter when dealing with massive amounts of data. How-ever, the abundance and growing complexity of the data tools and resources required for analysis are overwhelmin