Bringing Genome to the Dinner Table

Max Rothschild has been trying to “build” a better pig for
almost 30 years, since he took a job cleaning up after the
hogs at his alma mater, the university of California, Davis.

      He is now a renowned seine scientist who has traded
the dirty pigeons of his undergraduate days for a
glistening Iowa State University laboratory dedicated to
producing tastier chops, safer pork and healthier pig.
Rothschild is part of a national collaboration that earlier
this year received a $10 million federal grant to map pig
genes. Researchers from the University of Illinois-led
project promise it will help take the guesswork out of
breeding.

     The idea is to find and exploit the genetic variations of
the best pigs, which Rothschild and likeminded agricultural
researchers say will radically change the industry. Already,
chicken and cow genomes-complete genetic maps of each
species-have been published, and race horse breeders
have applied to the National Human Genome Research
Institute for a grant to run an equine DNA sequence. Most
animals’ genetic sequences are now done with the support
of the institute because of its expertise, and comparing
animal genomes to the human genome helps with medical
research.

     Mapping the roughly 30,000 genes in each animal
requires extracting the genetic material from its blood. The
DNA is then replicated many times over and tin through a
computer known as a sequencer, which spites out the
swine’s genetic makeup in a code of four letters-T, A, C, G-
representing the nucleotides that comprise DNA.

     Even before the pig genome I completed sometime
next year, top commercial producers such as Pig
Improvement Co and Monsanto are using preliminary
results from genetic screens to see if they can determine
which pigs are the tastiest before they are butchered. The
screens will also be used to manage herds and make
breeding decisions, among other improvements.

     “They can now look inside the pig,” Rothschild said.
“They are both building better pigs with this technology.”
Rothschild previously discovered a gene variation that
causes sows to produce more piglets per litre than
average. He developed a test for the variation that is now
widely used throughout the industry, and he said it could
be useful in the Third World. “The developing world wants
to eat meat,” Rothschild said.

        “And there’s only one way to produce it-grow more
animals.” Rothschild also envisions a day when every farm
animals bar-coded, which could enable producers to better
track of their herd and more quickly trace the source of
outbreaks like mad cow disease. The bar codes also would
let the breeders pamper the top pigs with better feed and
sort them from the run-of-the-animals.

        Cargill, which supplies about 20%of the nation’s
beef, is working on a genetic screen to sort its cattle by the
quality of their meat, something that can’t be done now
until the animal is slaughtered.
                                                                      ET 3-5-06
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