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

What are the effects of protease inhibitors, What are the effects of protea...

What are the effects of protease inhibitors?  In experimental animals, they have been found to be associated with growth inhibition and pancreatic hypertrophy. A negative feedb

Palaeontological evidence of evolution, EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION - The ev...

EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION - The evidences of organic evolution derived from many lines of study indicate that present day forms have arisen by gradual changes from pre existing fo

Prokaryotes and eukaryotes, Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes By now, you kno...

Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes By now, you know that cell theory holds good for all living forms. However, if you examine under the microscope, the cells of a bacterium, a blue gr

Phosphate group from an atp molecule, A molecule that acts by transferring ...

A molecule that acts by transferring a phosphate group from an ATP molecule to another molecule would be called: A) hydrolase. B) lipase. C) transferase. D) ligase. E) kinase.

Explain phylogenetically proximal species, Q. Do the phylogenetically proxi...

Q. Do the phylogenetically proximal species have cells with proximal chromosome counts? The number of chromosomes typical of each species is proximal for phylogenetically proxi

Define solvent chemical potentials from phase equilibria, Define Solvent Ch...

Define Solvent Chemical Potentials from Phase Equilibria? Previously explained how we can evaluate the activity coefficient γ m,B of a nonelectrolyte solute of a binary soluti

What is the mendel’s first law, the Mendel's first law? A Mendel's firs...

the Mendel's first law? A Mendel's first law postulates that a characteristic (trait) of an individual is always determined by two factors, one inherited from the mother and th

What are some factors that can lead to protein denaturizing, Protein denatu...

Protein denaturizing can be source by temperature variation, pH change, and changes in the concentration of surrounding solutes and by other processes. Most proteins are denatured

Explain about the secondary protein derivatives, Explain about the Secondar...

Explain about the Secondary Protein Derivatives? These are the products of further hydrolytic cleavage of the protein molecule, Examples include: a) Proteoses: Soluble in wa

How to draw the cell in metaphase, Start with a cell with chromosome number...

Start with a cell with chromosome number 2n=6, and having two acrocentric pairs and one metacentric pair of chromosomes. Draw the cell in metaphase I. Indicate one pair of sister c

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