Modification of performance traits, Biology

Assignment Help:

Modification of performance traits

Modifications to livestock that could influence traits such as growth rate, feed efficiency and meat quality are major goals for livestock breeding in agriculture. Mice in which the myostatin gene has been knocked out have considerably more skeletal muscle than wild type controls. The double-muscle phenotype of some breeds of cattle is caused by natural mutations of this gene and these are widely bred in Europe for improved meat quality. Knockout of this gene in sheep or pigs could produce animals with increased skeletal muscle mass and improved meat quality, although there are clearly major ethical issues relating to animal welfare that would have to be considered if these types of animal were generated.

Other areas of transgenic applications in animal agriculture include modifying milk composition to increase milk proteins, to decrease milk fat or to change milk composition to provide a source of milk for lactose-intolerant individuals or to provide a source of milk that is more efficiently processed into cheese. An area that definitely needs more exploration is the use of the chicken oviduct as a bioreactor. This approach has numerous advantages over the transgenic mammary gland. To name a few, the ease of collecting the product, short generation times, quantity, safety and low costs are unmatched by the traditional approach of transgenic milk. However, this system is still in its infancy because micromanipulation of the chicken embryo is very difficult, and transgenic chickens are often mosaics. It is also possible that the best protein expression levels will be obtained when multiple copies of transgene integrate into a particular favourable chromosomal locus. Cloning will greatly reduce timeliness to get therapeutic products to the market by producing large number of genetically identical transgenic livestock animals in the first generation.


Related Discussions:- Modification of performance traits

Values of dpd for plant cells under hypertonic media, Q. What are the value...

Q. What are the values of DPD for plant cells under hypertonic, hypotonic and isotonic media? In plant cells under hypertonic medium there is loss of water for the external, SF

What are the yeasts, Q. What are the Yeasts? Like mold, the term "yeast...

Q. What are the Yeasts? Like mold, the term "yeast" is commonly used but hard to define. As used here it refers to those fungi which are generally not filamentous but unicellul

Define rhizoids - types of hyphae, Define Rhizoids - Types of Hyphae? ...

Define Rhizoids - Types of Hyphae? Rhizoids - These are brown slender root like structures which arise in cluster from each node of the stolon. These penetrate the substratum

What are the types of plant geotropisms, What are the types of plant geotro...

What are the types of plant geotropisms? Why do the stem and the root present opposite geotropisms? The parts of geotropisms are the positive geotropism, that in which the plan

What is an argument that shows emergence of photosynthetic, What is an argu...

What is an argument that shows that the emergence of photosynthetic beings was crucial for life to reach the marine surface and later the dry land? The Ultraviolet radiation fr

Inhibition of microbes by weak acids, With the exception of those soft drin...

With the exception of those soft drinks that contain phosphoric acid, in most other acidic foods acidity is due to the presence of weak organic acids. These do not dissociate comp

Optional use values of biodiversity, Q. Optional use values of biodiversity...

Q. Optional use values of biodiversity? Optional values are associated with potential use in the future. Accordingly one opts to conserve biodiversity based on the hope that it

What is cytokinesis in cell reproduction, what is Cytokinesis in cell repro...

what is Cytokinesis in cell reproduction? Cytokinesis: Mitosis is usually followed by cytokinesis, the division of the cytoplasm and cell membrane. Cellular organelles are no

Epidemiological association between hemophilia and hiv, Q. What is the epid...

Q. What is the epidemiological association between hemophilia and HIV infection? In the past the blood banks did not usually perform HIV detection tests and many hemophilic pat

How does the excretory system of nematodes work, How does the excretory sys...

How does the excretory system of nematodes work? The metabolic residuals of nematodes are collected by two longitudinal lateral excretory channels that open in one excretory po

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd