The Genome Sequence of Taurine Cattle: A Window to Ruminant Biology and Evolution

Bovine Genome Sequencing & Analysis Consortium, Christine G. Elsik, Ross L. Tellam, Kim C. Worley, Richard A. Gibbs, Antonio R. R. Abatepaulo, Colette A. Abbey, David L. Adelson, Jan Aerts, Virpi Ahola, Lee Alexander, Tyler Alioto, Iassudara G. Almeida, Ariel F. Amadio, Elen Anatriello, Stylianos E. Antonarakis, Juan M. Anzola, Alex Astashyn, Suria M. Bahadue, Cynthia L. BaldwinWes Barris, Rebecca Baxter, Stephanie Nicole Bell, Anna K. Bennett, Gary L. Bennett, Fernando H. Biase, Clayton R. Boldt, Daniel G. Bradley, Fiona S. L. Brinkman, Candice L. Brinkmeyer-Langford, Wendy C. Brown, Michael J. Brownstein, Christian Buhay, Alexandre R. Caetano, Francisco Camara, Jeffrey A. Carroll, Wanessa A. Carvalho, Theresa Casey, Elaine P. Cervelatti, Joseph Chack, Elsa Chacko, Mimi M. Chandrabose, Jennifer E. Chapin, Charles E. Chapple, Hsiu-Chuan Chen, Lin Chen, Ye Cheng, Ze Cheng, Christopher P. Childers, Elizabeth J. Glass, Kirsty Jensen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

To understand the biology and evolution of ruminants, the cattle genome was sequenced to about sevenfold coverage. The cattle genome contains a minimum of 22,000 genes, with a core set of 14,345 orthologs shared among seven mammalian species of which 1217 are absent or undetected in noneutherian (marsupial or monotreme) genomes. Cattle-specific evolutionary breakpoint regions in chromosomes have a higher density of segmental duplications, enrichment of repetitive elements, and species-specific variations in genes associated with lactation and immune responsiveness. Genes involved in metabolism are generally highly conserved, although five metabolic genes are deleted or extensively diverged from their human orthologs. The cattle genome sequence thus provides a resource for understanding mammalian evolution and accelerating livestock genetic improvement for milk and meat production.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)522-528
Number of pages7
JournalScience
Volume324
Issue number5926
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Apr 2009

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