Morning Ag Clips logo
  • Subscribe ❯
  • PORTAL ❯
  • LOGIN ❯
  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe to our
    daily email
    ❯
  • Portal Registration❯
  • Login❯
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Morning Ag Clips

  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
Home » Sheep gene insights could help farmers
goats research sheep
GENETIC RESEARCH ...

Sheep gene insights could help farmers

Could inform animal breeding programmes aimed at improving farmers' stocks

PUBLISHED ON September 18, 2017

Fresh insights into the genetic code of sheep could aid breeding programmes to improve their health and productivity. Scientists at the University of Edinburgh's Roslin Institute have mapped which genes are turned on and off in the different tissues and organs in a sheep's body. Their findings shed new light on the animal's complex biology, including insight into the function of genes linked to immunity and meat quality. (The Roslin Institute)

EDINBURGH, U.K. — Fresh insights into the genetic code of sheep could aid breeding programmes to improve their health and productivity.

Scientists have mapped which genes are turned on and off in the different tissues and organs in a sheep’s body.

Their findings shed new light on the animal’s complex biology, including insight into the function of genes linked to immunity and meat quality.

Researchers say the insights could eventually inform animal breeding programmes aimed at improving farmers’ stocks.

Sheep have more than 20,000 different genes but not all of these are expressed in each tissue type in the body.

The team focused on genetic material called RNA, which is produced as an intermediate step when DNA code is translated into the proteins and molecules that make up cells and tissues.

RNA serves as a functional read-out of exactly which genes are expressed in which tissues at any one time.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute analysed the total RNA produced in each tissue of the sheep’s body.

Their results represent a major step towards understanding how the sheep’s genetic information influences its physical traits.

The findings also shed light on the function of hundreds of genes whose role was previously unknown.

An online database has been created from the results, which is freely accessible to scientists working anywhere in the world. The researchers hope this resource will help to further understanding of the sheep’s genetic make-up.

The project is a major contribution to the global Functional Annotation of ANimal Genomes (FAANG) initiative.

The study, published in PLOS Genetics, was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC). The Roslin Institute also receives strategic funding from the BBSRC.

Professor David Hume, of the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, who initiated the project, said: “This is largest resource of its kind. Ongoing comparative analysis will provide insights to help us understand gene function across all large animal species, including humans.”

Dr Emily Clark, of the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, who coordinated the project, said: “Sheep are a central part of the rural economy in the UK and are essential to sustainable agriculture across the globe. The new resource represents a major step towards understanding how the sheep’s genetic information influences its physical traits, and provides a foundation to use this information to generate sustainable improvements in the productivity of livestock animals.”

—University of Edinburgh
via EurekAlert!

For more articles on sheep, click here.

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

Licensing Purdue technologies: Ag innovations
April 12, 2022

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A number of innovations are available for licensing and commercialization through the Purdue Research Foundation Office of Technology Commercialization. OTC has more than 50 innovations available to license on its website in the Agriculture category. Here are 12 of them. Each entry includes the innovation’s advantages over traditional options and potential applications. […]

ASI wraps up annual convention
January 27, 2022

DENVER — As it turns out, that rollercoaster ride American wool and sheep producers have been on the past couple of years was actually a Pacific Ocean wave that carried the American Sheep Industry Association into San Diego on Jan. 19-22 for its 157th Annual Convention: Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wave. The convention theme […]

One gene closer to a sorghum Superman
January 26, 2022

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Scientists are honing the traits of speed, strength and near invulnerability in an important food crop that, much like a superhero, will help protect the vulnerable. Achieving a milestone in their pursuit of the Superman of sorghum plants, scientists identified a single gene that confers broad protection from the fungal diseases […]

RNA breakthrough creates crops that can grow 50% more potatoes, rice
July 25, 2021

CHICAGO — Manipulating RNA can allow plants to yield dramatically more crops, as well as increasing drought tolerance, announced a group of scientists from the University of Chicago, Peking University and Guizhou University. In initial tests, adding a gene encoding for a protein called FTO to both rice and potato plants increased their yield by […]

American Sheep Industry elects leaders
February 02, 2021

DENVER — Following one of the most difficult years in the history of the American sheep industry, Susan Shultz of Ohio has been elected to lead the American Sheep Industry Association as its next president. Shultz was unanimously elected during the final day of the sheep industry’s 156th Annual Convention on Jan. 29. Shultz had […]

Spread the word

Browse More Clips

USDA: Help on way for those hit by Irma

USDA aids Fla. children affected by Irma

Primary Sidebar

MORE

NATIONAL CLIPS

National FFA Organization selected to participate in the Advancing Racial Equity Community of Practice initiative
January 27, 2023
Six reasons to bring millets to the market!
January 27, 2023
Statement from Agriculture Secretary on departure of Deputy Secretary Jewel Bronaugh
January 26, 2023
76th Annual Rangelands Meeting
January 26, 2023
99 Counties - Farming for Good Health!
January 26, 2023
  • Trending
  • Latest

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

Research Center for Farming Innovation
Wiebbecke to lead ISA’s Research Center for Farming Innovation
January 26, 2023
Focus on Forage
Focus on Forage webinar series in Feb/March
January 26, 2023
USDA NASS conducts hemp survey
January 26, 2023
Kentucky Department of Agriculture
Kentucky Ag Development Board approves projects
January 26, 2023
larger crop seeds
UK study could help fight food insecurity
January 26, 2023

Footer

MORNING AG CLIPS

  • Contact Us
  • Sponsors
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service

CONNECT WITH US

  • Like Us on Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

TRACK YOUR TRADE

  • Markets & Economy
  • Cattle Updates
  • Dairy News
  • Policy & Politics
  • Corn Alerts

QUICK LINKS

  • Account
  • Portal Membership
  • Just Me, Kate
  • Farmhouse Communication

Get the MAC App Today!

Get it on Google Play
Download on the App Store

© 2023 Morning Ag Clips, LLC. All Rights Reserved.