Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Effects of breed and wintering diet on growth, puberty and plasma concentrations of growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 in heifers

Twenty-five Brangus (BR) and 15 Angus (AN) heifers were used to study the effects of breed and wintering diet on average daily gain (ADG), onset of puberty and plasma concentrations of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Wintering diets (fed for 107 days beginning November 15) consisted of the following: 1) native grass hay (NGH), 2) ammoniated NGH, 3) NGH plus cottonseed meal, 4) Diet 3 plus corn and 5) Diet 4 plus monensin. After wintering, heifers were transferred to ryegrass pasture for 70 days. Mean ADG during the wintering phase were -.20, -.10, .17, .29 and .39 kg for heifers fed Diets 1 through 5, respectively (P\u3c.01). ADG was greater (P\u3c.05) for BR than for AN heifers. Plasma concentrations of GH were higher (P\u3c.05) in heifers fed Diets 1 and 2 than in heifers fed Diets 3, 4 or 5. Plasma concentrations of IGF-1 were lowest in heifers fed Diets 1 and highest in heifers fed Diets 4 and 5. During ryegrass grazing, GH concentrations were similar for all groups. However, concentrations of IGF-1 were higher (P\u3c.05) in heifers fed Diets 3, 4 and 5 than in heifers fed Diets 1 and 2. Age at puberty (onset of cyclic progesterone concentrations) was greatest in heifers fed Diet 1 and lowest in heifers fed Diet 5. Weight at puberty was not affected (P\u3e.10) by wintering diet but was greater (P\u3c.01) in BR than in AN heifers. Therefore, negative ADG appears to be associated with elevated plasma GH concentrations in heifers, and plasma IGF-1 concentration appears to be a more accurate indication of nutritional status than plasma concentrations of GH. © 1989

Effects of breed and wintering diet on heifer postweaning growth and development.

Fifteen spring-born Angus (AN) and 25 Brangus (BN) weanling heifers were used in a 2x5 factorial arrangement of treatments to evaluate the effects of breed and postweaning winter diet on heifer growth and development. Dietary treatments were warm-season perennial grass hay (H), ammoniated H (AH), H plus .68 kg/d cottonseed meal (HP), H plus .45 kg/d cottonseed meal plus 1.37 kg/d ground corn (HPE) and HPE plus 200 mg/d monensin (HPEM). Mean initial weight and age for the 107-d feed trial were 207 kg and 270 d. Brangus had .06 kg greater (P less than .05) ADG than AN during the trial. Although digestible DM intake (DDMI) relative to body weight was greater (P less than .10) for AN than for BN, ADG:DDMI was greater (P less than .05) for BN than for AN. Heifers fed H and AH lost weight, but heifers fed AH had 50% (P less than .05) less daily weight loss than those fed H. Daily gain increased (P less than .05) incrementally in response to sequential supplement additions of cottonseed meal (AH vs HP; -.10 vs .17 kg), ground corn (HP vs HPE; .17 vs .29 kg) and monensin (HPE vs HPEM; .29 vs .39 kg). Hay DM intake relative to body weight and DDMI were increased (P less than .01) by ammoniation. Intake did not differ between HPE and HPEM. Diet affected age at puberty (P less than .05), which decreased with increased dietary components. Weight differences among diet groups following the winter feed trial were largely eliminated prior to breeding. Nevertheless, H- and AH-fed heifers collectively weighed less (P less than .01) prior to breeding than did heifers of supplemented diet groups. Reproductive development tended to be adversely affected by weight loss during the postweaning period

Effect of zeranol implantation on bodyweight changes in zebu crossbred cattle grazing tropical pasture

Nine experiments on the effect upon bodyweight change of subcutaneous ear implantation of 36 mg zeranol in 605 Bos indicus crossbred cattle were conducted. Bullocks aged 3 to 4 years, steers aged 18 months and entire heifers aged 18 to 30 months were used over the period January to August, 1980. They were grazed on 6 commercial farms in tropical northern Australia. Seven of the experiments examined the results of single implantation after the initial 60 to 97 days. Growth rates of untreated cattle in the January to May period ranged from 0.43 kg/day over 97 days in heifers to 1.07 kg/day in bullocks. Bodyweight gains attributed to zeranol ranged from 1.8 kg (4.3% increase) over 97 days in heifers (NS) to 22.3 kg (28.9% increase) over 90 days in 18 month-old steers (P < 0.01). The significant bodyweight responses to zeranol treatment in all 5 experiments involving older 3-to 4-year-old bullocks have not been previously reported. Hot dressed weights of the zeranol-treated bullocks were significantly heavier than the untreated controls and dressing percentages were similar. Increases in bodyweight attributable to implantation with zeranol yielded 50 to 54% saleable carcase weight. Single-, repeat-, and non-implanted treatments were compared over 186 days from January to August. Both zeranol treatments significantly out-performed the controls (P < 0.05), and the repeat-implanted bullocks gained 9.2 kg more than the single-implanted bullocks (P<0.10) in spite of bodyweight tosses recorded in the 3 treatments over the final 105 days. In 2 experiments bullocks implanted once in January/February were weighed in August to monitor compensatory bodyweight changes after April/May. The cattle retained 72.4% and 92.6% of the original bodyweight advantage attributed to zeranol treatment, depending upon whether they lost or gained in bodyweight respectively during the April/May to August period. The commercial relevance of these results is discussed and suggestions are made for further work

The N-terminal domain of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases retains metalloproteinase inhibitory activity

Recombinant tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP-1) and a truncated version containing only the three N-terminal loops, delta 127-184TIMP, have been expressed in myeloma cells and purified by affinity chromatography and gel filtration. delta 127-184TIMP was found to exist as two main glycosylation variants of molecular mass 24 kD and 19.5 kDa and an unglycosylated form of 13 kDa. All forms of the truncated inhibitor were able to inhibit and form complexes with active forms of the matrix metalloproteinases, indicating that the major structural features for specific interaction with these enzymes resides in these three loops. Stable binding of delta 127-184TIMP to pro 95-kDa gelatinase was not demonstrable under the conditions for binding of full-length TIMP-1