Researchers use DNA from exceptional carcass to produce donor cow

Beef researchers in Texas are just a month away from producing a large number of embryos from recently cloned male and female cattle -- all part of an ongoing, historic project using Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) reproductive technology to create cloned calves.

The public-private partnership between West Texas A&M University and industry professionals is more than three years in the making, and researchers hope to successfully reproduce cattle from animals graded Prime, Yield Grade 1, the highest quality and most sought after animals in the beef industry.

Ideally the clones would be used to breed a line of cattle that could produce USDA’s highest grade beef in a shorter amount of time using fewer feed resources.

The researchers, led by Dean Hawkins, head of WTAMU’s Department of Agricultural Sciences, presented their findings to date in December at the Range Beef Cow Symposium in Rapid City, S.D.

Since 2010, the researchers have identified very few exceptional carcasses. "Of the 20 possible combinations of quality (Prime, Choice, Select, Standard) and yield (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) grades that occur within the young fed beef population, the probability of a Prime, yield grade 1 carcass is approximately 0.03 percent of the fed beef in the U.S. just 29 out of thousands of cattle carcasses rated as Prime, Grade Yield 1," they wrote.

"The progeny from this mating will be tested for DNA markers for carcass merit and growth efficiency. A portion of the resulting progeny will be feed at the university feedlot and slaughtered to determine their quality and yield grade," they added. "Additional cows will be inseminated with semen from Alpha or a purebred bull with known EPD’s to determine if Alpha is truly genetically superior."

http://cattlebusinessweekly.com/Main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=5854

http://www.agweek.com/event/article/id/22650/group/Livestock/


http://www.rangebeefcow.com/2013/powerpoints/18-Hawkins.pdf


“Interesting, that when they confirmed the animals that had both the phenotypic traits and the gene markers for growth, feed efficiency and carcass traits it narrowed the percentage of animals eligible to be cloned to 0.006 percent of the fed beef population,”

not an unreasonable number

90 million head x 0.00006 = 5400 head in the population "eligible".

it would be useful to test a few more animals to validate statement as this could help explain variation due to genetics or other non-environmental factors.  I wonder how that number would change if the phenotype was not restricted. it would be useful to know if markers are snps alone or if other markers or techniques were used.


perhaps muscle expression as well is being expressed more so in the loin rather than the rear, hence the waygu look.

Any update on how the calves are grading out?

I have been fascinated by this project. Interested to see more results come out. Regardless of the outcome, we will learn something!

the end of breeds.

Any thoughts on why they chose to have the females be carriers of the wild type color allele?

Dr. Jekels (meaning PhDs) trying to prove a theory and then claiming their research findings are worth more money and fit a market.  Isn't this just another example of Frankenfood?  Will McDonald's buy these freaks?  How many restaurant steaks are really needed when most beef is consumed as ground beef? Does the world need more marbling or more high quality protein amid shrinking packer margins? If we have learned anything, haven't we learned that farmers will over produce one specific commodity?  Just another example of egg head greed or a cry for acceptance.

Our Angus and Herefords make us money while making our bull, feeder, and packer customers happy. We are working on getting better, but also understand that cattle genetics don't change that fast and better feedlot management works wonders.  I would rather target the organic market than deal with GMO beef.  I will sit on the sidelines and sell real world cattle while the self anointed experts argue about the details.

Color doesn't matter.

It's just one gene.

I wonder if the calf has any shorthorn in it.

Real world cattle are already viewed as wasteful in the eyes of consumers.

In the real world, people are concerned about resources.

its not a slam dunk these cattle won't be used in normal situations.

Who is going to stop the use of genetics from offspring in a commercial setting?

The cat is out of the bag.

Probably patented
Occupatio in corpore

librarian said:

Probably patented
Occupatio in corpore

Click to expand...

doesn't matter.  at some point, they need a return on their investment.  patents expire.


patents are to protect the inventor for a period of time..


without some protection of intellectual property, there is reduced incentive to invent.


the constant cry for idealistic, morphable, benevolence leads to violence, either through subjugation of what happened to mussolini.

I just see it as a fast forward on selection pressure. It's not as though they pasted in tapir genes.
Of course the bull will jump the fence, but then will the rancher have to yield his calves unto Clonesanto?