Functional Annotation of ANimal Genomes (FAANG) Project

— A coordinated international action to accelerate Genome to Phenome

Current Organisers:

• Hao Cheng (University of California Davis, USA), qtlcheng@ucdavis.edu
• Daniela Lourenco (University of Georgia, USA), danilino@uga.edu
• Mario Calus (Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands), mario.calus@wur.nl

Task Force priorities:

The main aim of the Task Force FAANGPrediction is to contribute to unlocking the potential of the generated FAANG data in animal breeding programs in practice. To achieve this, FAANGPrediction will facilitate exchange and collaboration between quantitative geneticists working on routine genomic evaluations and implementation of genomic prediction models that use functional genomics information such as SNP-level functional annotation and individual-level intermediate omics traits (e.g., transcriptomics, metabolomics), and molecular geneticists and bioinformaticians involved in producing and interpreting the FAANG data.

1. Bridging the gap between molecular and quantitative geneticists by introducing details of FAANG data and genomic evaluation to each other.
2. Creating a data repository to convert FAANG data into formats friendly to quantitative geneticists.
3. Developing new statistical and machine learning methods for FANNG-enabled genomic prediction.
4. Evaluating its potential in routine genomic evaluation.

General planned activities this year:

We’d like to organize workshops to bridge the gap between molecular and quantitative geneticists by introducing details of FAANG data and genomic evaluation to each other.