Every good pig tale has a beginning and this one starts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

That's where a reddish-brown Duroc sow called home before she was ultimately sacrificed for science, specifically to help unravel the genetic code of pigs.

Last week, an international team of scientists — led by Illinois professor Larry Schook— announced that it had produced the first draft of the genome of the domestic pig. And the Illinois sow provided the road map.

Team members say the discovery will help provide significant new insights into agriculture, medicine, conservation and evolution.

"The pig is a unique animal that is important to food and that is used as a model for human disease," said Schook, co-chairman of the International Swine Genome Sequencing Consortium. "And because the native wild animals are still in existence, it is a really exciting animal to look at to learn about the genomic effects of domestication."

The $24.3 million project was a collaborative effort that included scientists from Scotland, the Netherlands, France, Japan, England and the United States.

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England performed most of the sequencing.

"This sequence provides a tool of real value in helping the research community to better understand human diseases, in particular by facilitating cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and immunological studies," said Allan Bradley, the Institute's director. "The scientific impact of this research is already being felt."

For the project, University of Illinois scientists contributed extensive swine research, including a 2005 side-by-side comparison of the human and pig genome that revealed several similarities.

The Illinois Duroc sow was selected for sequencing in part because the breed is widely used in pork production across the world. She was also used in an earlier project to study genes that control growth and contribute to meat quality.

The draft sequence, which is 98 percent complete, will allow researchers to identify genes that are useful to pork production or are involved in immunity. It is also expected to improve breeding practices, offer insight into swine diseases and assist in efforts to preserve rare, endangered and wild pigs.

"This is just the beginning of the process," Schook said. "Now, we're just beginning to be able to answer a lot of questions about the pig."