On January 31, 2024 a new version of the Brown Norway rat genome was released at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). This reference was built by Kai Li, a first year master’s student in the laboratory of Ted Kalbfleisc, PhD, associate professor at the Gluck Equine Research Center in collaboration with scientists from the University of Texas Houston, the University of Louisville and the Sanger Institute. On Feb. 27, the annotation of that genome, or placement, and structure of genes on the new genome were released (download details can be found at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/data.../genome/GCF_036323735.1/).

This annotation demonstrated that this new genome was more complete, not only in terms of sequence composition, but also with respect to its ability to accurately characterize the structure of more genes, including an increase over the most recent version of more than 5% of protein coding genes, and 67% of Immunoglobulin/T-cell receptor gene segments. The rat is a very important model organism commonly used to better understand human diseases such as breast cancer and hypertension. This new genome will make it possible for scientists to gain insights into the genetic basis for human health and wellbeing.

What does all of this mean for medical and agricultural research? The sequencing technology and computational power we have today, coupled with the students that we are training make it possible for us to accurately read the genome of nearly any organism. This opens a new frontier where we can begin to think about interpreting genomes comprehensively in terms of the physical and chemical interactions found in their environment, and ultimately how these genomes influence the physical manifestations that we enjoy in the plants, animals, and people in our world.

By Martin Nielsen, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVM, Schlaikjer professor of Equine Infectious Disease and director of graduate studies in the University of Kentucky Department of Veterinary Science at the Gluck Equine Research Center.