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[Josh Greenman <joshg1973 AT yahoo.com>]

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/mg18524811.300

Genome project chimp dies unexpectedly

Anna Gosline 

CLINT, the chimpanzee whose genome sequence will soon be published, has died. 
His demise
has sparked a debate about whether more effort should be made to preserve 
samples from
the individuals that are sequenced.

"The manifestations of these sequenced genomes must be preserved for 
posterity. If anyone
wants to go back and study them, they have to have something to go to," says 
Robert
Hanner of the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, New Jersey. 
"We have
already missed many opportunities. It's a damn shame."

Like other creatures whose genomes have been sequenced, including 
entrepreneur Craig
Venter and his poodle Shadow, Clint was the living reference point for 
millions of
dollars' worth of of genetic code. One of the reasons he was chosen was his 
youth and
clean bill of health: if researchers needed to take more tissue samples to 
validate the
DNA sequence, he would be around to provide them. And as insights into the 
function of
his genes emerged, they would be able to examine his morphology, behaviour and
physiology.

But Clint has been put down aged just 24, New Scientist has learned. The 
Yerkes National
Primate Research Center in Atlanta, Georgia, where Clint was kept, will not 
say what
disease he was suffering from.

Hanner has convinced the primate centre to let him ship Clint's body to a 
museum.
Curators there will preserve his remains, but it is unclear if any samples 
were taken and
frozen immediately after his death, before decay set in.

It would be a shame if this has not been done, says Evan Eichler of the 
University of
Washington in Seattle, who works on the chimp genome. Two years ago, he 
worked with
Yerkes to set up a programme to keep close watch on sick primates to ensure 
rapid tissue
collection when an animal dies. "It doesn't cost very much," he says.

The Coriell Institute does have two cell lines from Clint, which can be used 
to work out
any kinks and gaps in the chimp sequence. But living cell lines are not the 
perfect way
to preserve a genome, because they mutate and change.

They can also die, which is what happened to a few cell lines created during 
the publicly
funded Human Genome Project. The anonymity of the donors meant new lines 
could not be
established, and the lack of back-up cell lines caused trouble when 
unexpected patterns
appeared in the DNA sequence, says Eichler.

Ideally, researchers would like to have both cell lines and a variety of 
frozen samples
from each animal that has been sequenced. This would not only preserve the 
original
genome for checking, but also allow researchers to compare gene expression in 
different
tissues, for instance.

These kinds of precautions are especially important for genetically variable 
creatures
such as chimps. Most of the other animals being sequenced come from highly 
inbred lines,
meaning that if the original individual dies, other animals with virtually 
identical
genomes will remain available for study.

The National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, is 
attempting to
archive tissue from sequenced animals, says Jane Peterson, director of the 
institute's
comparative sequencing programme. But she thinks the real priority should be 
to reduce
the cost of sequencing.

She points out that sequencing the human genome cost several hundred million 
dollars.
Sequencing Clint cost only about $18 million. If prices continue to fall this 
steeply,
sequencing other individuals will be so cheap that preserving biological 
material from
the first individual of a species to be sequenced will be unnecessary, she 
says. "We are
pushing for the $1000 genome, then the $100 genome."