Cattle Code Cracked In Detail

October 7, 2014

Provided by Janne Hansen, Aarhus University

The cattle genome has now been mapped to a hitherto unknown degree of detail. This constitutes a quantum leap for research into the history and genetics of cattle.

By creating a global database an international consortium of scientists has increased the detailed knowledge of the variation in the cattle genome by several orders of magnitude. The first generation of the new data resource, which will be open access, forms an essential tool for scientists working with cattle genetics and livestock history. The results are published in an article in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Genetics.

Its momentous, says one of the scientists behind the international effort, associate professor Bernt Guldbrandtsen from the Center for Quantitative Genetics and Genomics, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University. Scientists from Aarhus University the only Danish university to participate have been part of the consortium from the start and have contributed 15 percent of the data.

Ancestral bulls

The data used in the huge database are derived from key ancestor bulls. These bulls have produced millions of descendants and have enormous influence on the genetic composition and characteristics of modern cattle breeds. For example, Holstein bulls in the database have fathered at least 6.3 million daughters worldwide.

The data consist of sequenced genomes for a number of bulls and are based on new sequencing techniques. The article in Nature Genetics describes data from 232 bulls and two cows of the breeds Angus, Holstein, Jersey and Fleckvieh. Since these animals are key ancestors, they carry most of the genetic variations present in the three races.

Currently, the database contains genomes of more than 1,200 animals of different cattle breeds, but as more scientists from other countries gradually join the project, there is a continual inflow of data. Key ancestor bulls have daughters all around the world, so it is a considerable strength of the project that such data are connected into one database.

High level of detail

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Cattle Code Cracked In Detail