Project Leaders:
Marco Marra, Robert Holt, Steven Jones, Stephen Moore

Lead Institutions:
Canada's Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre, University of Alberta

Technology Applications:
Comparative genomics, animal health tools, breeding management

Research Funding Program:
International Projects 

This project is part of a large international effort to sequence the bovine genome. This collaborative effort includes the National Human Genome Research Institute; the US Department of Agriculture; the State of Texas; the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Australia; and New Zealand's Agritech Investments Ltd, Dairy Insight Inc. and AgResearch Ltd. The first draft of the bovine sequence was released in October 2004 by the Baylor College of Medicine’s Human Genome Sequencing Center in Houston. To discover more about individual bovine genes, full-length cDNA sequencing is being done as part of this project at the BC Cancer Agency Genome Sciences Centre in Vancouver. This cataloguing of the bovine transcripts is particularly timely given the focus on and tremendous cost to Canada due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). This sequencing effort will help in the fight against BSE as well as create the most fundamental advance in our understanding of cattle. The results of this work will help facilitate improvements in animal health research, improve nutrition, and reduce agriculture’s impact on the environment.

The bovine genome is similar in size to the genomes of humans and other mammals, with an estimated 3 billion base pairs and 25,000 – 30,000 genes. Adding the genomic sequence of the cow (Bos Taurus) to the list of sequenced animal genomes will help researchers understand the structure and function of human genes and thereby develop new strategies in the battle against disease.

Sequencing of the bovine genome began in December 2003 on the Hereford breed, which is used in beef production. The first draft was produced in October 2004 and covered the genome 3.3 times whereas the final target sequences the genome eight times. Shallow pass sequencing will be carried out in six breeds – Holstein, Angus, Jersey, Limousin, Norwegian Red, and Brahman. The resulting large number of polymorphisms between these breeds will assist discovery of traits for better meat and milk production.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is caused by the bovine prion protein and very little is known about its basic biology. The bovine sequence may lead to an understanding of the prion’s normal function or pathways, which should provide possible treatments for BSE.

The Bovine Genome Project data will underpin livestock research for the next 50 years and become the reference point used to identify animals that are better suited to a particular market or environment. But the research is not limited to livestock production because the bovine genome information is valuable to many disciplines including evolutionary biology, population genetics, comparative genomics, and medical genetics.