Taming of the shrew genome

Abstract

With less than $3500 a year in funding, researchers at the Laboratory of Developmental Genetics in Novosibirsk in Russia, are trying to map the shrew (Sorex araneus) genome. S. araneus is an insectivore and is the only species in this order to be mapped. Insectivores include hedgehogs, tenrecs and moles and are considered a primitive group of mammals that changed little during mammalian evolution. Although the shrew is not a model organism such as the mouse or the fruit fly, its genome could provide insights into the ancestral genome of placental mammals. The Russian group has no plans to sequence the genome but will map genes using shrew – rodent somatic-cell hybrid panels made using PCR primers from species such as cat, pig and cow. (http://shrewbase.da.ru) AP