[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 28, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10012-10013]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-2775]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Institute of Standards and Technology

[Docket No. 060119011-6011-01]


Notice of Intent To Establish the NIST Nucleic Acid Sequence 
Library

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is 
collecting nucleic acid sequences, which have been dedicated to the 
public domain, in order to form a library of sequences suitable for the 
preparation of RNA reference materials. These reference materials are 
intended to act as external RNA controls in gene expression assays. It 
is expected that there will be commercial products based upon this 
sequence library.
    Development of these reference materials is being done in 
conjunction with the External RNA Control Consortium (ERCC), an ad hoc 
international consortium of approximately 70 organizations from the 
public, private, and academic sectors.

[[Page 10013]]


DATES: The initial sequence library will be compiled on March 17, 2006. 
Contributions received later than this date will be considered for 
inclusion in the library, but may not be included in the first round of 
testing.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marc Salit, Advanced Chemical Science 
Laboratory, Stop 8310, National Institute of Standards and Technology 
(NIST), Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8310. Telephone: (301) 975-3646; FAX: 
301 975-5449; or by e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NIST is collecting nucleic acid sequences to 
form a library of sequences suitable for the preparation of RNA 
reference materials. These reference materials are intended to act as 
external RNA controls in gene expression assays.
    Development of these reference materials is being done in 
conjunction with the External RNA Control Consortium, an ad hoc 
international consortium of approximately 70 organizations from the 
public, private, and academic sectors. This group has described the 
materials to be developed (see http://www.cstl.nist.gov/biotech/Cell&TissueMeasurements/GeneExpression/ERCC.htm) has published a plan 
to qualify the performance of the candidate sequence library (see 
Consortium, E.R.C., Proposed methods for testing and selecting the ERCC 
external RNA controls. BMC Genomics, 2005. 6(1): p. 150) and is 
developing guidance for using external RNA controls to validate a gene 
expression assay (see http://www.clsi.org description of provisional 
guidance MM-16).
    The External RNA Reference Material sequences are intended to mimic 
endogenous mRNA transcripts, in particular for mammalian species. These 
sequences should:
    1. Be from 500 to 2000 nucleotides in length;
    2. Have not more than marginal expected cross reactivity with assay 
probes for popular research organisms (including H. sapiens, M. 
muscularis, S. cereviciae, A. thaliana, E. coli, C. elegans, D. 
melanogoster, D. rerio). Marginal cross reactivity will be defined as 
having no more than 20 contiguous bases of identity and overall 
homology less than 70% with any section of the genomes of interest; 
and,
    3. Have GC content of 40-60% and be void of significant repetitive 
elements, palindromes or regions of low complexity (Human, mouse and 
rat genomes are an average of 40-42% GC).
    To be included in the library, RNA sequences must:
    1. Be entered in the National Center for Biotechnology 
Information's GenBank database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Genbank/index.html).
    2. Be dedicated to the Public Domain for broad dissemination and 
unrestricted use by any interested party.
    Sequences provided to NIST for inclusion in the library must be 
physically embodied in a suitable vector, in a suitable organism, and 
should be provided as such to NIST.

    Dated: February 11, 2006.
William Jeffrey,
Director.
[FR Doc. E6-2775 Filed 2-27-06; 8:45 am]
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