Chicken genome and new possibilities in the study of cancer

According to an article published today in the journal Nature, members of the Research Group in Biomedical Informatics in Barcelona have participated in a project that has managed to decipher the chicken genome, the first to sequence a bird. This is a scientific breakthrough in the study of viruses and cancer, the evolution of vertebrates and also has great implications for the food industry. 

The research group consists of scientists from the Municipal Institute of Medical Research (IMIM) Barcelona, ​​University Pompeu Fabra (UPF) and the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG). Spanish is the only group of researchers who participated in this scientific project.

This is the first bird genome sequence and its strategic position in the evolutionary tree of mammals and fish, makes it a unique source of information for the study of vertebrates. Since birds belong to the arcosauromorfos, which also includes crocodiles and dinosaurs, this is the genomic sequence analyzed us most about the dinosaurs.

According to the press release issued yesterday by the IMIM, UPF and the CRG, sequencing, analysis and decoding of the chicken genome has been performed by the International Consortium for Chicken Genome Sequencing, comprising some 50 centers and research laboratories worldwide. According to study results published in Nature, 60% of chicken genes correspond to similar human genes. It is estimated that in the evolution, the genome of the bird and humans began to diverge 310 million years ago.

This latest scientific discovery can play an important role in the study of viruses and cancer, as the first oncogenic virus was identified in chicken. Moreover, the comparative study of genomes of different species opens a line of research that may lead to discover new aspects of human biology and medicine.