[Cue Six Million Dollar Cow Music] bigger…stronger….faster…tastier!

dah na na na…

Steak fans may soon reap the benefits of the genomics revolution. A new project will help scientists create bovine breeds genetically selected to produce bountiful supplies of perfectly marbled steaks.
Scientists at several U.S. and Canadian research institutes are collaborating with Illumina, based in San Diego, CA, to develop a bovine gene chip, similar to those used to study the genetics of human disease. The DNA chips, expected to be on the market early next year, will dramatically speed the search for the genetic variants that underlie desired traits, such as the level of marbling in a cut of meat or the efficiency of a dairy cow’s milk production.
“This opens a whole new scale of gene identification in cattle,” says Jerry Taylor, professor of animal genomics at the University of Missouri-Columbia and one of the researchers on the project. “We’ll be able to tackle genetics of all of these traits–reproductive capability, milk production, milk composition, and quality of meat–in ways we never before envisioned.”