Mammalian Gene Collection

The Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) was a trans-NIH initiative, started in 2001. Its goal, at the onset, was to provide at least one full-protein-coding sequence cDNA clone for every human and mouse gene with a RefSeq transcript and at least 6200 rat genes. The MGC cloning effort initially relied on random expressed sequence tag screening of cDNA libraries. Starting in 2004, MGC used transcript-specific RT-PCR cloning to isolate cDNAs for genes not represented in MGC. Finally, between 2006 and 2009, MGC employed DNA synthesis methods to provide FL-CDS clones for human and mouse genes still absent from the collection.

The MGC now contains clones with the entire protein-coding sequence for 92% of human and 89% of mouse genes with curated RefSeq (NM-accession) transcripts, and for 97% of human and 96% of mouse genes with curated RefSeq transcripts that have one or more PubMed publications, in addition to clones for more than 6300 rat genes. These high-quality MGC clones and their sequences are accessible without restriction to researchers worldwide. All MGC sequences are deposited in GenBank and the clones can be purchased from the Image Consortium Distributors. The IMAGE Clone Resource is now housed at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (http://image.hudsonalpha.org).

For more information on the Mammalian Gene Collection, you can download the following journal publications:

• The Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) Project Team. (2002). Generation and initial analysis of more than 15,000 full-length human and mouse cDNA sequences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 99(26):16899-903. (PDF)
• The Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) Project Team. (2004). The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC). Genome Res. 14(10B):2121-7. (PDF)
• The Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC) Project Team. (2009). The completion of the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC). Genome Res. 19(12):2324-33. (PDF)