BOVINE CALCIUM-SENSING RECEPTOR GENE RESIDES ON CATTLE CHROMOSOME 1

Authors: NEIBERGS, HOLLY - FORMER USDA, ARS, NADC; WOMACK, J - TEXAS A&M UNIV., TX; Reinhardt, Timothy

Submitted to: Mammalian Genome
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/13/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Milk fever is a disease which affects 8 to 10% of the dairy cows in the United States, which means that approximately 800,000 cows are affected each year. The combined direct and indirect costs of a milk fever episode are estimated to exceed $300 per cow. Our research group's mission is to perform basic and applied research aimed at reducing productivity losses and complications that necessitate further treatment of these animals with antibiotics and drugs, which we would like to avoid. The calcium receptor is the sensor that signals the cow's endocrine system when her blood calcium is changing. The efficiency of this signaling system is critical to the health of the cow. In this research summary, we have mapped this gene to chromosome 1. The consumers are the eventual beneficiaries of this work, as they are further assured of economical and wholesome products.

Technical Abstract: Polymerase chain reaction primers (5'-cattctgtctttcgcactcaa-3', 5'- cttccattctcctcttctgtt-3', sense and antisense, respectively) were designed from the published bovine sequence (Brown et al 1993) to amplify a 249 bp fragment of bovine DNA in rodent x bovine somatic cell hybrids. The amplification products of the calcium-sensing receptor corresponded with the predicted fragment size of the published data. The PCR conditions of bovine x rodent somatic cell hybrids were as described (Neibergs and Womack 1994) with the exception of a 51 deg C annealing temperature. Synteny of the calcium-sensing receptor with syntenic markers was determined using the method of Chevalet and Corpet (1986) (Table 1).