polled cattle
Absence of horns is controlled by a single dominant inherited mutation which was already mapped in the bovine genome. The location of an interacting second mutation responsible for the sex-influenced expression of scurs is still unclear.
Factsheet
- Schools involved School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences
- Institute(s) Agriculture
- Research unit(s) Livestock and Horses
- Funding organisation SNSF
- Duration 01.04.2012 - 31.12.2015
- Head of project Dr. Hannes Jörg
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Project staff
Dr. Hannes Jörg
Natalie Wiedemar
Prof. Dr. Cord Drögemüller - Partner Universität Bern Vetsuisse
- Keywords genome wide association, cattle, polled, animal welfare, next generation sequencing
Situation
The project aims to unravel the molecular basis of the presence/absence of horns in cattle. The causal mutation would enable the precise identification of homozygous polled animals for effective introgression of polled cattle.
Course of action
Genome-wide association study (GWAS) to map the scurs mutation. An across-breed fine-mapping of the scurs mutation. Identification of all variants in the critical interval between P/P and P/P resp. Sc/Sc and Sc/Sc animals. Identification of candidate causative mutations. Identification of the causative mutations for polled and scurs. Implementation in breeding programs.
