When breeders and researchers want to have a gene analysis conducted on a cow, it typically takes about three months and costs roughly $3,000. These analyses can help identify good candidates for breeding programs, and prevent genes that cause hereditary illness from being passed on to future generations. But because the process is rather expensive and time consuming, this technology hasn’t been widely accessible until relatively recently.
Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making it much easier to conduct genomic analyses by publishing a comprehensive genomic database of 96 different breeds of U.S. beef cattle. Thanks to this valuable new tool, breeders and scientists can order a gene analysis for free that just takes three hours to complete.
The database was developed over the course of two years by researchers at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Nebraska. It’s already been used to identify a gene mutation which is associated with brisket disease – a common cause of heart failure in cattle. In the future, it could help to identify other similarly high-risk mutations as well.
“Our primary interest is infectious disease and animal health,” said USMARC microbiologist Michael Heaton in a statement. “Typically, diseases affect only a small percentage of animals, but the loss of any animal can be expensive. We wanted to see if we could root out those relatively rare genetic defects that cause a few animals to get sick and die.”
By giving the public easy access to a wealth of genomic data on beef cattle, the USDA could contribute to the development of healthier, well-bred American cattle. Given enough time, this data could even help to eliminate deadly hereditary diseases which have plagued the beef industry in the past. It’s an exciting new instrument in the cattle breeder’s toolbox which could have far-reaching implications for the health of American livestock in the future.
Flying H Genetics participated in the research study that helped develop this genomic database and has used this database to identify and eliminate genetic defects as well as identify superior genetics for a variety of other economically important traits. Contact us today for more information.
