Researchers unlock the DNA of M-O-O
Two competing research teams have cataloged the “essence of bovinity” found in the DNA of cattle, but not without disagreement on some essential points.
Reporting online April 23 in Science and April 24 in Genome Biology, the two groups compiled drafts of the bovine genome, identifying genes important for fighting disease, digesting food and producing milk.
“It gives you a window into what makes a cow a cow,” says Harris Lewin, of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a coauthor of the Science paper. “There were some real surprises there.”