Breeding cattle for improved disease resistance

Authors: Bickhart, Derek

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/1/2017
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Genomic selection has revolutionized the cattle industry by providing reliable assessments of animal productivity by identifying the presence and absence of genetic markers that are associated with key productive traits. Increasingly, farmers are finding that animal health is a critical component of productivity; however, current genomic selection genotyping tools have a paucity of genetic markers within key immune gene clusters (IGC) involved in the cattle innate and adaptive immune systems. With diseases such as bovine tuberculosis and Johne’s disease costing the industries of the United Kingdom and United States an annual £50 million and $200 million, respectively, identifying genetic markers associated with disease resistance will greatly assist producers. The high genetic diversity and highly repetitive nature of IGCs also means that the cattle reference genome assembly contains many mistakes or greatly underrepresents the true diversity of alleles in these clusters. In order to overcome these difficulties and to identify useful genetic markers for genomic selection, we have sequenced and assembled Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) clones of IGC alleles in order to correct assembly mistakes. Using these new assemblies, we have identified 60,000 novel genetic variants suitable for genotyping the U.S. Holstein population. These markers will be screened for phenotypic effects and will be submitted as novel genetic markers for future mating programs.