Article Abstract:
Functional melanocytes in the epidermis are required for cutaneous pigmentation in cattle. In spotted cattle variations in the size of pigmented sectors are of interest to animal researchers, as it is believed that those with a higher proportion of white coat absorb less solar radiation. The proportion of unpigmented coat was determined from photographs of German Simmental and Holstein bulls. The receptor tyrosinase kinase (KIT) locus is associated with depigmentation phenotypes in mice, humans and pigs, and it is suggested that KIT is a candidate gene for the degree of spotting in cattle.
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Article Abstract:
The male linkage map of the cattle (Bos taurus) genome consists of 249 microsatellites and 20 structural genes. Of the 249 microsatellites, 140 are markers chosen from other maps and 98 are new assignments. Genome coverage between all the terminal markers located on 29 autosomes is 1975 cM. The average genetic distance between adjacent loci is 9.7 cM. The map may provide a framework for comparative gene mapping.
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Article Abstract:
The analysis of 16 paternal half-sib families of the Holstein breed with 872 sons and 264 genetic markers is studied to detect QTL affecting body conformation and the behavior in dairy cattle. This study provides the first evidence for QTL involved in behavior of dairy cattle and also identifies QTL for udder conformation on chromosome 6 that could form the basis of recently reported QTL for clinical mastitis.
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