Once the most popular gamebird in the nation, the bobwhite quail has suffered huge population losses, an alarming trend that has been noted for decades. <\/p>\n
Now, researchers at Texas A&M University are hopeful that a high-intensity project to decode the plump little bird's entire genome will help its long-term chances for survival. <\/p>\n
Chris Seabury, a genetics professor at A&M's Department of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, led a research team that recently finished the first \"draft genome assembly\" for a wild bobwhite quail. <\/p>\n
\"By sequencing and assembling the bobwhite quail genome, the team produced the most comprehensive resource currently available for cutting-edge interdisciplinary research in the bobwhite,\" Seabury said in a prepared statement. <\/p>\n
The peer-reviewed research was published Wednesday in the March 2014 issue of the open-access scientific journal PLOS ONE. <\/p>\n
Nicknamed Pattie Marie, the quail whose leg muscle tissue provided DNA for the research, was donated by a Texas hunter, Seabury said. <\/p>\n
Other A&M members of the team were Professor Ian Tizard, director of the Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center; Donald Brightsmith, professor with the Schubot center; A&M research assistants Yvette Halley and Eric Bhattarai. <\/p>\n
The project, which took two years to complete, also involved research colleagues Jerry Taylor and Jared Decker, University of Missouri; Charles Johnson and Dale Rollins, A&M AgriLife Research; and Markus Peterson, A&M's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences. <\/p>\n
Two private-industry scientists, Scot E. Dowd and Paul M. Seabury, also took part. <\/p>\n
Once the DNA was isolated, it was then fragmented for sequencing, Seabury said by email. <\/p>\n
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