SCIENCE
GENOMES OF RAT, MOUSESEQUENCED DNA sequences of scientists' favorite rodents will illuminate human disease
O
VER THE PAST CENTURY, THE
mouse has become an indispensable tool for biomedical research. Now an international consortium has unveiled a high-quality draft sequence of the genome of the most commonly studied laboratory mouse [Nature, 420,520 (2002)]. The publicly available D N A sequence of a female mouse from the strain C57BL/6J is sure to trigger an avalanche of new research. "The mouse genome is a Rosetta stone that will allow us to understand the human genome," says Eric S. Lander, a consortium member and direc-
CUSTOM
tor of the Whitehead/MIT Center for Genomic Research. The 2.5 billion-base-pair mouse genome contains only about 30,000 genes that code for proteins, roughly the same surprisingly low number found in the human genome. Nearly all of these genes have a match in humans. Several other international scientific teams have conducted analyses of the sequence. One has created a library of the sequences of transcribed regions that will make it easier to make "knockout" mice that lack a single gene [Nature, 4 2 0 , 563 (2002)]. Another has identified single-nu-
MANUFACTURING
SNPE PULLS OUT OF TEXAS VENTURE Toulouse phosgene edict halts a big push into the U.S. market
S
NPE SAYS IT WILL W I T H -
draw from its LaPorte, Texas, phosgene derivatives operations on Dec. 15 as part of the restructuring of its chemical business (C&EN, Aug. 12, page 12). The firm, which in October combined four commodity, specialty, and fine chemicals operations into a single business called Isochem, says it is exiting phosgene-based commodities following the French government's decision to prohibit phosgene production in Toulouse, the site of its largest phosgene plant. SNPE's Toulouse plant was shuttered in September 2001 after an explosion at a neighboring fertilizer plant operated by ToHTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
talFinaElf. The phosgene prohibition was issued in September 2002. The LaPorte plant, SNPE's first grassroots operation in the U.S., was designed, built, and operated by Dow Chemical's contract manufacturing services business. The plant employs SNPE technology and is supplied with phosgene already made on-site by Dow SNPE announced the deal with Dow in 1999, the same year that it acquired a plant in Lockport, N. Y, that makes phosgene and derivatives. The Lockport facility is directed toward pharmaceutical markets and will remain part of Isochem, the company says. S N P E invested about $20 million in LaPorte, with expec-
cleotide sequence differences between this and other mouse strains, which promises to speed up the discovery of genes responsible for disease [Nature, 4 2 0 , 574 (2002)]. Still another has shown that most of the D N A that doesn't code for protein is shared by both mice and humans — suggesting that these regions are crucial for gene regulation in ways not yet understood [Nature, 420,578 (2002)]. Publication of the mouse sequence follows the Nov. 25 public release of a preliminary sequence of the genome of another model mammal, the rat. Genomic comparisons between human and mouse are incredibly powerful, Lander notes. "But being able to compare the human, mouse, and rat genomes will be even more interesting," he says.—
o^RT£SK^
MICE AND MEN Comparing mouse and human genomes shows that humans are genetically remarkably close to the lab mouse.
AMANDAYARNELL
tations that sales would reach $20 million annually The plant— designed to manufacture acid chlorides, chloroformates, and carbonates as well as alkyl chlorides, alkyl hydrazines, and dimethyl carbonate derivatives — never operated at full capacity, according to an SNPE representative who declines to comment on revenue from the site. It began operation in 2001. Mark Sullivan, commercial director for Dow Haltermann Custom Processing, says that Dow staff will likely be redeployed and the plant, dismantled and salvaged. He declines to comment on the status of Dow's designbuild-operate program, launched in 1998, which includes an agreement to produce methanesulfonyl chloride and methanesulfonic acid for Chevron Phillips Chemical in Freeport, Texas. —RICK MULLIN C&EN
OFF-LINE SNPE's first grassroots facility in North America—this plant in La Porte, Texaswill close. /DECEMBER
9,
2002
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