title: Art meets science: The Cosmopolitan Chicken Research Project.
abstract: The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project is an artistic undertaking of renowned artist Koen Vanmechelen. In this project, the artist interbreeds domestic chickens from different countries aiming at the creation of a true Cosmopolitan Chicken as a symbol for global diversity. The unifying theme is the chicken and the egg, symbols that link scientific, political, philosophical and ethical issues. The Cosmopolitan Chicken Research Project is the scientific component of this artwork. Based on state of the art genomic techniques, the project studies the effect of the crossing of chickens on the genetic diversity. Also, this research is potentially applicable to the human population. The setup of the CC®P is quite different from traditional breeding experiments: starting from the crossbreed of two purebred chickens (Mechelse Koekoek x Poule de Bresse), every generation is crossed with a few animals from another breed. For 26 of these purebred and crossbred populations, genetic diversity was measured (1) under the assumption that populations were sufficiently large to maintain all informative SNP within a generation and (2) under the circumstances of the CCP breeding experiment. Under the first assumption, a steady increase in genetic diversity was witnessed over the consecutive generations, thus indeed indicating the creation of a "Cosmopolitan Chicken Genome". However, under the conditions of the CCP, which reflects the reality within the human population, diversity is seen to fluctuate within given boundaries instead of steadily increasing. A reflection on this might be that this is because, in humans, an evolutionary optimum in genetic diversity is reached. Key words.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gene Technology, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stinckens
authors.affiliation: Hendrix Genetics, Research & Technology Centre, Boxmeer, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vereijken
authors.affiliation: Hendrix Genetics, Research & Technology Centre, Boxmeer, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ons
authors.affiliation: STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. ; iMinds Medical IT, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Konings
authors.affiliation: Hendrix Genetics, Research & Technology Centre, Boxmeer, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Van As
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Genetics, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cuppens
authors.affiliation: STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. ; iMinds Medical IT, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Moreau
authors.affiliation: STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. ; iMinds Medical IT, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.affiliation: STADIUS Center for Dynamical Systems, Signal Processing and Data Analytics, Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT), KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. ; iMinds Medical IT, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aerts
authors.affiliation: Division of Gene Technology, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goddeeris
authors.affiliation: Division of Gene Technology, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Buys
authors.affiliation: OpUnDi, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vanmechelen
authors.affiliation: OpUnDi, Hasselt, Belgium.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cassiman
keywords: Art project; Cosmopolitan Chicken Project; Cosmopolitan Chicken Research Project; Koen Vanmechelen.; chicken; crossbreeding experiment; genetic diversity; humans