Populations of animals with extensive phenotypic records for economically important traits, including production efficiency, are a critical need in the post-genome sequencing era. Coupled with the availability of the 7.5x assembly of the bovine genome sequence and the SNP genotyping resources that have resulted from the bovine genome project, such populations will accelerate the pace of discovery of genes underlying economically important traits. The McGregor Genomics population represents one such unique resource in which data for numerous production traits have been collected.

The availability of the bovine genome sequence will revolutionize our ability to understand the architecture of the bovine genome and how genes function. Of primary interest to the beef industry is identifying genes that affect economically important traits. Considerable emphasis has been placed on identifying regions of the genome (quantitative trait loci or QTL) that harbor genes for traits that directly impact the consumer (e.g. marbling and tenderness). However, much less effort has been dedicated to traits that would lead to improved production efficiency, such as female productivity and feed efficiency. This is primarily because of the time and expense associated with collecting these data.
      In order to maximize the utility of the bovine genome sequence to dissect these economically important traits at the molecular level, we must have accurate collections of phenotypes and genotypes so that QTL for these traits can be identified. This is the goal of the McGregor Genomics Project. Drs. Clare Gill, Andy Herring, David Lunt, Rhonda Miller, Penny Riggs, Jim Sanders, Jason Sawyer, Jeff Savell, and Tom Welsh and their students are collaborating on this project.

      Project Overview: The McGregor Genomics Population was produced from 2003 to 2007 and is a three generation, Bos indicus influenced, mapping population consisting of 480 offspring from 13 full-sib, embryo transfer, F2 families and 266 offspring from 4 paternal half-sib families produced by natural service. DNA was collected from every animal in the three-generation pedigree. Phenotypes emphasized in this population were cow reproductive efficiency, temperament, and individual feed intake, feed efficiency and carcass merit in steers. Calves out of these cows are being used to investigate the genetic bases of immunological response to vaccination.