Partnering

Beef Improvement Federation, Executive Director, Dr. Twig Marsten, Animal Sciences and Industries, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506 – A table of adjustment factors which can be added to current expected progeny differences (EPDs) to compare animals from 16 different beef breeds for birth weight, direct and maternal weaning weight, and yearling weight are provided annually using data from the Germplasm Evaluation Program at MARC.

Louisiana State University, Department of Animal Science, Baton Rouge, LA, Crossbred females by 4 sire breeds; Romosinuano from South America, Bonsmara from South Africa, and two American breeds - Beefmaster and Brangus; are being evaluated at each location to characterize their reproduction and maternal performance in temperate and subtropical environments of the U.S.

American Angus Association, 3201 Fredrick Blvd., St. Joseph, MO - Germplasm Evaluation Program data have been combined with American Angus Association data to explore potential for Multi-Breed Genetic Evaluations in beef cattle.

Iowa State University, Department of Animal Science, Ames, IA. The objective of this cooperative research project is to characterize differences among diverse breeds of cattle in longissimus fatty acid composition, to determine the heritability of longissimus fatty acid composition, and to determine genetic correlations between measures of fatty acid composition and other traits characterizing carcass composition and meat quality in beef cattle.

North Carolina State University, Dr. Jorge Piedrahita, College of Veterinary Medicine,

Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences.

http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/project/cvmaprhome/piedrahita_jorge.htm/. We are collaborating to identify and catalog novel imprinted genes in the pig and utilize that information in combination with existing reference and resource families to identify genes that have significant effects on uterine capacity.

University of Vermont, Dr. Russell Hovey, Department of Animal Science, Burlington, VT 05405. http://asci.uvm.edu/lamgb/hoveylab/. We have an ongoing collaboration to characterize the expression profile of the prolactin receptor gene during different stages of gestation in lines of pigs selected for component traits of litter size.

Duke University, Dr. Randy L. Jirtle, Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710. http://www.geneimprint.com. We have collaborated to investigate the underlying mechanism of how the callipyge mutation impacts muscle growth, carcass composition, and meat quality.

Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, USDA, ARS, Dr. Kurt Zuelke and Dr. Jeremy Miles,Beltsville, MD 20705. http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=12-00-00-00/. We are collaborating to characterize and investigate differences in gene expression profiles of early stage embryos from lines of pigs selected for different component traits of litter size.

Washington State University, www.ansci.wsu.edu Dr. Zhihua Jiang, Department of Animal Sciences, Pullman, Washington 99164-6310. We are collaborating to identify unique polymorphisms and chromosomal locations that are important in increased ovulation rate and uterine capacity in swine.

Babcock Genetics, http://www.babcockswine.com/. We are collaborating to validate the association between a genetic marker within the erythropoietin receptor gene and litter size in a commercial population of swine.

Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, http://www.genaissance.com/. We are collaborating to develop 60 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers that will serve as a universal identification marker set for U.S. beef and dairy breeds and a similarly informative set of 40 SNP markers for U.S. sheep.

National Swine Registry, http://www.nationalswine.com/. The National Swine Registry provided tissue samples for 24 representative boars for each of the 4 major US breeds of pigs (Duroc, Hampshire, Landrace and Yorkshire). These samples are being used to evaluate genetic diversity of the breeds and to develop markers for animal and parentage identification.

Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, UK. http://www.thearkdb.org/anubis?singlespecies=pig.

The Roslin Institute mirrors our genetic linkage maps on their web-site and collaborated with ARS to develop a physical map of the pig genome.

National Animal Genome Research Program. http://www.animalgenome.org/.

The web site sponsored by NAGRP and hosted at Iowa State University mirrors our genetic linkage maps and displays a summary of all QTLs identified in the pig.

American Sheep Industry Association, Centennial, CO, 80112. http://www.sheepusa.org/. MARC scientists interact closely with this sheep organization to focus on important industry issues and to transfer technology to producers.

U.S. Sheep Experiment Station, USDA, ARS, Dr. Greg Lewis, Dubois, Idaho. http://www.ars.usda.gov. ARS scientists at Clay Center, Nebraska and Dubois, Idaho collaborate to conduct sheep research.

Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Dr. Dan Waldron, San Angelo, Texas. http://sanangelo.tamu.edu. ARS scientists collaborate with Texas A & M geneticists to evaluate a terminal sire composite breed of sheep.

Tropically Adapted Breeds are being evaluated at three ARS locations (Clay Center, Nebraska; Brooksville, Florida; and El Reno, Oklahoma), two Texas A&M University locations (McGregor, TX and Uvalde, TX), Louisiana State University, and University of Georgia (Tifton) to characterize diverse tropically adapted beef breeds in subtropical and temperate areas of the United States. Crossbred progeny of two or more sire breeds are being evaluated at each location using semen from sires that are also included in the Germplasm Evaluation Program at MARC. The cooperative research is being conducted as part of Southern Regional Project S-1013.