NHGRI confirms 'roo genome project support

The NIH's National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has confirmed that it will provide funding to Australia's tammar wallaby sequencing project to allow at least 2X sequence coverage to be obtained.

The announcement was made at this week's BIO2004 conference by Victoria's minister for innovation John Brumby and NHGRI director Dr Francis Collins. "The NHGRI ... has green-lighted the project so it's all systems go," Brumby said.

The Victorian state government has put AUD$4.5 million toward the project, with another $1.5 million coming from AGRF funds.

"It's a project that puts Australia on the map. It has the potential of real benefits to human health and the agricultural industry. And it's a project that capture's people's imaginations," said Brumby.

The project will be spearheaded by the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) and the ARC Centre for Kangaroo Genomics, led by Prof Jenny Graves, and will be supported by the Baylor College of Medicine's Human Genome Sequencing Centre, whose director, Dr Richard Gibbs, is Australian. In addition, Applied Biosystems will provide substantial in-kind support through discounts on equipment and consumables, and will also help with technical aspects of the project.

The AGRF estimates that 10-12 million reads will be required to sequence the 3.6 billion base genome at 2X coverage. Sequencing will start later this year and will take about two years to complete.

The project will be the largest sequencing project undertaken in Australia to date, said AGRF director Dr Sue Forrest, who believes it will awaken further interest in genomics and take it to the next level.

The sequence will be used for a number of purposes including improving the understanding of human and other genomes through comparative analysis, as well as providing information about genetic sequences that control lactation, milk composition, and nutrition. Comparisons with the genomic sequence of the South American opossum -- which is already underway along with sequencing of the platypus genome -- will be used to study monotreme, marsupial and mammalian evolution.

The project also provides the AGRF and other groups with the opportunity to forge stronger international links and partnerships.

"This is one more opportunity with our hands joined around the world to achieve something," Collins said.