Work Package 5 - Mammary Function
Rationale: Increasing resistance to mastitis will decrease use of medicines, improve animal welfare, food safety, product quality and economic returns. However, the genetic resistance to clinical mastitis is negatively correlated to production traits, and is therefore a key factor in a balanced sustainable breeding goal. It is difficult to improve resistance to mastitis by traditional means. Progress using selective breeding could be improved substantially by the use of genomic tools. Therefore, the overall objective of WP5 was to identify important genes and genetic pathways involved in the immune response to mastitis including those genes that are regulated by previously identified QTL.
Objectives for WP5 at start of SABRE
- Fine mapping QTL affecting mastitis
- Assess pathogen specificity of identified QTL affecting clinical mastitis
- Identify candidate genes and genetic pathways involved in response to infection
- Identify the subset of genes and pathways controlled by a previously identified QTL
- Associate SNPs in identified candidate genes with phenotypes in broader populations.
Results: Please see results section at right side of this page.
WP Leader: Dr Peter Sorensen (University of Aarhus Faculty of Agricultural Sciences)
Partners involved:
- University of Aarhus Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
- The Roslin Institute and R(D)SVS, University of Edinburgh
- Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center
- MTT Agrifood Research Finland