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| Vol. 21, No. 21 |
| November 15, 1999 |
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Baylor Awarded $22 Million to Study Mouse Genome by B.J. ALMOND Baylor College of Medicine Baylor College of Medicine is one of 10 U.S. laboratories selected by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) to map out the genetic blueprint of a mouse. The $130 million national study should lead to a better understanding of how human genes work, says Dr. Richard Gibbs, principal investigator at Baylor, who received a $22.3 million, three-year grant for the project. The mouse genome, or genetic blueprint, is similar in size to the human genome. Although the human genome has 46 chromosomes and the mouse has only 21, both contain approximately 3 billion base pairs, or chemicals, that instruct cells to carry out various functions. Determining the sequence in which those base pairs are arranged can help researchers better understand the genetics of how the body develops and how diseases occur. The base pairs are arranged in a different order in the mouse, but through comparisons to corresponding regions of the human genome, researchers can identify base pairs that regulate genes in humans. Earlier this year, Dr. Gibbs received an $80 million, five-year NHGRI grant to sequence three chromosomes on the human genome. But unlike the human genome research, studies of the mouse genome will focus on portions of chromosomes rather than entire chromosomes. "Because a great deal is already known about the mouse from so many years of laboratory research, it would be potentially faster to concentrate on specific areas of the mouse genome, such as regions where disease-related genes are found on similar areas of human chromosomes," says Dr. Gibbs, professor of molecular and human genetics. "By comparing human sequences to related mouse sequences, we can identify specific base pairs that regulate genes," he says. Dr. Gibbs will meet later this month with directors of the other mouse genome sites to determine which regions of the genome should be sequenced. The goal is to complete a draft of the mouse genome by 2003 and a fine-tuned version by 2005. Baylor will hire nearly 50 researchers and purchase more DNA-sequencing instruments for the mouse genome project. Dr. Allan Bradley, Baylor professor of molecular and human genetics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will serve as co-principal investigator. Other institutions awarded mouse genome grants were Washington University School of Medicine, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, NHGRI, Genome Therapeutics Corporation, Oklahoma University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, University of Utah and The Institute for Genomic Research.
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