Research Project: IRTA for Integrative Graduate Fellowships in Animal and Plant Breeding, Genetics and Genomics
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This proposal is for Award Category No. 3 to provide IRTA support for two current, eligible, doctoral fellows in our NNF program. One fellow will travel to Brisbane, Australia to collaborate with scientists at the University of Queensland. Her research goal is to characterize the genetic basis for longevity of beef cows. Her specific objective is to apply Bayesian approaches to identify regions of the genome associated with beef cow longevity using phenotypes and genotypes collected from herds belonging to northern Australian pastoral companies. This research is significant to US agriculture because maintaining a productive cow in a herd generates economic returns of $118 to $244 per cow for each additional year of productivity. The other fellow will travel to Milan, Italy to collaborate with scientists at the University of Milan. Her research goal is to identify the molecular basis for epistatic interactions among cattle coat color genes. Her specific objective for this IRTA is to map the degree of white spotting in an Italian dual-purpose cattle breed. This research is significant to US agriculture because coat color is an important factor in breed identity, and coat color is a model system to develop methods to characterize the molecular basis of epistatic interactions that could be extended to other complex traits relevant to food security, animal production, and health. This IRTA directly supports the USDA-NIFA Strategic sub-goal 1.1 (“Advance our Nation’s ability to achieve global food security”) and sub-goal 1.7 (“Ensure the development of human capital, communities, and a diverse workforce”).
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