A Steak in Genomics™

Alison Van Eenennaam UC-Davis United States beef cattle inventory has decreased since the 1970s. However, over that same time period, we have produced more beef. This means we are more efficiently producing more beef per cow. This is very different compared to other countries such as Brazil and India. We have seen inflection points in the genetic progress of beef production as various technologies have been adopted? Will gene editing be that next inflection point? Gene editing technologies are simply scissors that cut DNA. There are various types, such as Zinc Finger Nucleases, TALENS, and CRISPR/Cas9. CRISPR has become very popular recently because it uses a guide RNA to make the cut at a specific location. CRISPR can make site-specific variants (mutations) as the cell repairs the double stranded breaks. CRISPR can also be used to insert new sequence from a different animal, species, or kingdom. There are 13 papers that describe edits for 12 different traits in cattle. Gene...

Stewart Bauck Neogen Vice President of Agrigenomics This is the 50th aniversary of the BIF Symposium. Fifteen years ago at BIF, the sequencing of Dominette for the first cattle genome sequence was announced. GeneSeek now has laboratories all over the world. They have worked with customers and collaborators to develop over 50 custom assays (DNA tests). There are 3 pillars of GeneSeek's success: High quality data Fast Turn-Around Time Fair Pricing Dr. Mitch Abrahamsen Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer Recombinetics Precision Breeding for Animal Health and Productivity: What does it take to deploy technology in the market place? Recombinetics has 3 product lines. Two are focused on applications of gene-editing to human medicine.  The agriculture product is called Acceligen. Acceligen uses gene editing to move DNA variants from one breed to a different breed.  Recombinetics has 22 patents.  To date, all genetic progress is th...

Matt Spangler University of Nebraska-Lincoln Alison Van Eenennaam University of California-Davis   Early DNA tests with 1 or 2 markers had little predictive ability. As tests improved, more markers were added. Eventually there was a switch to genomic predictions.  Unfortunately, early on, these DNA test results were published along side adjusted phenotypes, ratios, and EPDs.  Quantitative genetic methods solved this problem by combining the molecular breeding value (MBV) with the EPD. Two approaches were used to combine MBVs with EPDs. One approach is to fit the MBV as an indicator or correlated trait. This is similar to combining carcass records with ultrasound records. The other approach is to blend the two predicts, MBVs and EPDs, as an index.  There are two fundamental camps for implementing single-step. UGA- ssGBLUP Misztal Theta Solutions/ISU - BOLT Garrick, Golden, Fernando Before, we were trying to fit genomic prediction into ...

Head over to the Brangus website to read my article, " Gene Editing: What Beef Producers Need to Know. " For more information, see Alison Van Eenennaam's blog post titled " FDA seeks public comments on regulation of genetically altered animals ." Importantly, the open period for commenting on the draft regulations has been extended until June 19th. Draft guidance:  https://www.fda.gov/downloads/AnimalVeterinary/GuidanceComplianceEnforcement/GuidanceforIndustry/UCM113903.pdf Commenting Website: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2008-D-0394-0279 ). Loading...

Rod Geisert In the 1950s, artificial insemination was developed. In 1978, the first human born from in vitro fertilization was born. Both of these technologies were criticized at the time, but now they are widely accepted. When you fabricate something in science, you are going to get caught! When someone makes a claim in the literature, others try to replicate it. There was a fraudulent report of cloning in mice, and although this was not a true success, it got people thinking about and trying to clone animals. A clone is simply an identical twin born on a different day. Dolly the clone was named after Dolly Parton, because the cell from the donor sheep was from a mammary cell. Cloning animals did not immediately change how we raise livestock. But, cloning allows us to do additional things, like gene editing. Who is going to feed the world? You are! Technology revolutions, like the green revolution and industrial revolution, have allowed the human population and food supply ...

Gene editing is a category of new methods that can be used to precisely edit or change the genetic code. As the name “gene editing” suggests, these technologies enable researchers to add, delete, or replace letters in the genetic code. In the same way that spell check identifies and corrects single letter errors in a word or grammar errors in a sentence, gene editing can be used to identify and change the letters that make up the genetic code (i.e. DNA) within an individual. This factsheet explores the many possible uses of gene editing. For more information see the factsheet at eBEEF.org.

Discovery about PRRS virus could save swine industry hundreds of millions of dollars; Exclusive deal signed with global leader in animal genetics COLUMBIA, Mo. ­— Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus was first detected in the U.S. in 1987. Pigs that contract the disease have extreme difficulty reproducing, don’t gain weight and have a high mortality rate. To date, no vaccine has been effective, and the disease costs North American farmers more than $660 million annually. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Missouri, Kansas State University, and Genus plc have bred pigs that are not harmed by the disease. Prather PRRS from MU News Bureau on Vimeo . “Once inside the pigs, PRRS needs some help to spread; it gets that help from a protein called CD163,” said Randall Prather, distinguished professor of animal sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. “We were able to breed a litter of pigs that do not produce this pr...