Project Number: 1265-31000-098-01
Project Type: Trust

Start Date: Dec 23, 2004
End Date: Dec 23, 2007

Objective:
The objective of this cooperative research project is to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) corresponding to gastro-intestinal (GI) parasite infection and disease phenotypes measured from a sheep research population (Dorper x Red Masaii) developed and maintained by the International Research Livestock Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. The results of this study will be used to identify new QTL and validate results for similar disease-related QTL identified using the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BRC) Angus population.

Approach:
Sheep genomic DAN (N=35) from grandparents, F1 sires, and backcross progeny was imported from Animal Genetic Resources at ILRI to the Bovine Functional Genomics Laboratory (BFGL) at BARC with the guidance of APHIS. Using the international sheep linkage map (v.3), more than 40 DNA markers with utility in both cattle and sheep were selected from 6 sheep chromosomes that corresponded to cattle chromosomes containing potential QTL for parasite indicator traits. Genotypes from these markers will be generated and scored to tract the inheritance of chromosomal segments from grandparents to test progeny with phenotypic data for parasite disease and infection. QTL mapping analyses will be done to identify which, if any, of these six chromosomes contain QTL comparable to this found in the BARC Angus herd.