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Embryo Genomics
Animal Reproduction Science 134 (2012) 1
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Animal Reproduction Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anireprosci
Preface
Embryo Genomics Embryo Genomics meeting, Bonn, September 2011
This volume includes the proceedings of the third Embryo Genomics meeting that took place in Germany during the last week of September 2011. This meeting was organized by Dr. Karl Schellander, Dawit Tesfaye and their group from the University of Bonn. The two previous meetings were held in Québec, Canada, in 2002 and Paris, France, in 2007. These meetings were focused on new developments in the study of early embryos that were made possible by the use of genomic tools. Such focus is justified by the extraordinary challenges associated with the microscopic nature of the tissues analysed and the constant changes that undergo many reproductive tissues associated with the sexual cycle. This unique context requires the development and validation of specific tools, involving amplification of RNA–DNA and normalization schemes that account for variations in the amount of starting material. The 3 meetings were therefore composed of a mix of genomic results presentations and method analysis papers that included bio-informatics aspects. The third Embryo Genomics meeting started with a review on the potential of RNAseq technologies as well as their limitations. This was followed by presentations from 3 experts on embryo transcriptome analysis that demonstrated the value of such analyses. Topics such as RNA translation in oocytes and embryos were explored as they represent specific challenges to embryologists. A second portion of the program explored more advanced stage embryos and uterine receptivity. This was followed by discussions on the new challenges associated with the study of the epigenome and responses to the environment. After a molecular technique workshop organized
0378-4320/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anireprosci.2012.08.004
by Claude Robert, several students presented their most recent results mainly in the field of farm animal embryo genomics. One of the highlights of this meeting was the presentation of a new transcriptomics tool, the EmbryoGENE bovine microarray. Designed by the EmbryoGENE Network and manufactured by Agilent, this microarray includes over 40,000 targets, including more than 21,000 known bovine genes, 3600 splice variants, 3300 UTR variants and 11,200 uncharacterized transcribed regions obtained through deep sequencing of bovine embryos. The porcine equivalent is also available through EmbryoGENE. In addition the analysis pipeline developed for microarray data was presented and made available to all. In conclusion, this was a very successful event during which participants exchanged ideas, methods and results in this fast moving field of small sample genomics. Guest editors and main organizer of the Embryo Genomics Meeting Dawit Tesfaye ∗ Karl Schellander co-organizer of the Embryo Genomics meeting Marc-André Sirard Université Laval, Canada ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Tesfaye) Available online 14 August 2012
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Animal Reproduction Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/anireprosci
Preface
Embryo Genomics Embryo Genomics meeting, Bonn, September 2011
This volume includes the proceedings of the third Embryo Genomics meeting that took place in Germany during the last week of September 2011. This meeting was organized by Dr. Karl Schellander, Dawit Tesfaye and their group from the University of Bonn. The two previous meetings were held in Québec, Canada, in 2002 and Paris, France, in 2007. These meetings were focused on new developments in the study of early embryos that were made possible by the use of genomic tools. Such focus is justified by the extraordinary challenges associated with the microscopic nature of the tissues analysed and the constant changes that undergo many reproductive tissues associated with the sexual cycle. This unique context requires the development and validation of specific tools, involving amplification of RNA–DNA and normalization schemes that account for variations in the amount of starting material. The 3 meetings were therefore composed of a mix of genomic results presentations and method analysis papers that included bio-informatics aspects. The third Embryo Genomics meeting started with a review on the potential of RNAseq technologies as well as their limitations. This was followed by presentations from 3 experts on embryo transcriptome analysis that demonstrated the value of such analyses. Topics such as RNA translation in oocytes and embryos were explored as they represent specific challenges to embryologists. A second portion of the program explored more advanced stage embryos and uterine receptivity. This was followed by discussions on the new challenges associated with the study of the epigenome and responses to the environment. After a molecular technique workshop organized
0378-4320/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anireprosci.2012.08.004
by Claude Robert, several students presented their most recent results mainly in the field of farm animal embryo genomics. One of the highlights of this meeting was the presentation of a new transcriptomics tool, the EmbryoGENE bovine microarray. Designed by the EmbryoGENE Network and manufactured by Agilent, this microarray includes over 40,000 targets, including more than 21,000 known bovine genes, 3600 splice variants, 3300 UTR variants and 11,200 uncharacterized transcribed regions obtained through deep sequencing of bovine embryos. The porcine equivalent is also available through EmbryoGENE. In addition the analysis pipeline developed for microarray data was presented and made available to all. In conclusion, this was a very successful event during which participants exchanged ideas, methods and results in this fast moving field of small sample genomics. Guest editors and main organizer of the Embryo Genomics Meeting Dawit Tesfaye ∗ Karl Schellander co-organizer of the Embryo Genomics meeting Marc-André Sirard Université Laval, Canada ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (D. Tesfaye) Available online 14 August 2012