double muscling

thought this was worth a look.

http://www.southdevon-cattle.com/myostatin.htm

http://pt.wkhealth.com/pt/re/agen/abstract.00000556-200010000-00003.htm;jsessionid=L2zhVWYWm9D2sqF3Mx9XsqxyTbfRkYzXV4RQLjmpyhryPL2lBtz4!-127489179!181195628!8091!-1

http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?IA=IB1998001197&DISPLAY=DESC

if that dang PHA gene is related to this, i'm gonna frass.

i'll have to look into this, but i know maine's carry the full double muscling gene, but this paper indicates there may be two other forms that are milder and may account for the thickness we see in maines.  this gives new insight into a couple of theories i have.

How's that publication coming Barrelracer, and by the way, thanks for your help.

By coincidence I was talking to a shorthorn breeder close to home in Ontario tonight and while he only has a small herd he mentioned that he had 3 or 4 calves that he thought had double muscling

Is it prevalent in shorthorns?

I was told by a breeder that Piedmontese have it as well...

Shorthorns must have the double muscling gene in them because they are are one of the original breeds used to make up Belgian Blues,i have seen pictures from across the pond of fullblood maines that are biult just like blues.

the_cowgirl_in_me said:

I was told by a breeder that Piedmontese have it as well...

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Here's some info and situations I've seen with Piedmontese:  The bulls tend to have small testicles and fertility and libido is sometime a problem.  When I first saw them (Denver), I was in love with them.  But, visually, the bulls were big, robust, muscular with the smallest little testicles I've ever seen! Breeding Piedmontese to 'regular' cows can, and often does, cause calving problems.  It's not the muscle, it's the width of the hips where all that muscle will hang.  A friend of mine in WY bred her Shorties to Piedmontese bulls for many years.  When she got a good one, it was 'really' a good one.  However, I'd say at least 20% of her cows needed csections because of hiplock. Many more were hard pulls.  She finally gave up on the program. And, although I don't know about every steer show, in the ones I've watched out west, evidence of double muscling is heavily penalized in the ring.

knabe said:

if that dang PHA gene is related to this, i'm gonna frass.

How's that publication coming Barrelracer, and by the way, thanks for your help.

Click to expand...

Hey Knabe!  Nope no relation to PHA, not same chromosome nor no known gene-gene interaction.  You know how papers go, still haven't got the green light to publish TH and it'll be out long before we can publish the PHA one.  You'll probably be waiting quite awhile for it I'm afraid. 

I did find this paper for you, these guys resequenced Myostatin in double muscled animals in various different breeds (including Maine-Anjou).  The found something like 7 mutations total with 5 causing some damage to the protein. 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9501304?ordinalpos=91&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

uluru said:

By coincidence I was talking to a shorthorn breeder close to home in Ontario tonight and while he only has a small herd he mentioned that he had 3 or 4 calves that he thought had double muscling

Is it prevalent in shorthorns?

Click to expand...

Yeah, we had two double muscled calves last year.  I would have pics for you, but we sold one at auction, and the other one just died of rumen complications (she was a feeder calf, to say the least).