Annotation of the Lactation Genome: A Comparative Approach

The collective set of genes that contribute to the production of milk may be referred to as the “lactome”. The biological processes that underlie mammary gland development and secretory activation have been studied intensively in animal models, particularly mouse models. Integrative genomic approaches that include comparative species analysis provide a powerful approach to understand the functional basis of biological processes. We have developed a substantial dataset based on lactation studies using mouse models. The data is analysed for gene expression and haplotype association to provide a whole genome view of lactation and is currently undergoing an integrated analysis to strengthen the power of the associations and provide a comprehensive set of genes for detailed assessment. A parallel set of analyses includes the integration of comparative data, especially from bovine and human genomes. This paper will discuss new data from comparison of mouse lactation phenotypes and analysis of genome-wide variation of inbred mouse strains to identify key genes involved in lactation.