TORONTO, June 11 (UPI) -- Scientists have unraveled the genetic composition of cows, a first step, they said Tuesday, to creating beef that is more tender and more uniform in texture and color.
"The sequencing of the cattle genome ... represents a new high point in animal genomics," said Ed Quattlebaum, president of MetaMorphix Inc., a Maryland company that sponsored the genetic research.
MetaMorphix and food processing giant Cargill Inc., of Minneapolis, will collaborate on finding the genes linked to such traits as tenderness, Quattlebaum told reporters at the annual meeting of the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
"This will be the largest genomics study ever done," he told United Press International later.
In genomics, researchers know the genes and seek to match them to various traits, as opposed to genetics, in which scientists try to find genes responsible for a given characteristic.
The genetic map of cows was assembled by Celera Genomics under contract with MetaMorphix, Quattlebaum said. Celera led one of the international projects that deciphered the human genome in 2000.
The map is "quite an accomplishment," said Steven Kappes, director of the USDA's Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska. "It's another tool that we need."
However, Kappes told UPI, details of the map -- 600,000 signposts known as single nucleotide polymophisms, or SNPs -- still have to be verified "and that's a lot of work."
Once the genetic links to such things as tenderness are found, Quattlebaum told UPI, it will be possible quickly to compare thousands of cows, weeding out those that are genetically predisposed to be tough.
Cargill spokesman Albert Paszek said only about 10 percent or 15 percent of the calves sent to feedlots to be grown into beef cattle are later found to be tender enough to make top grade steaks and chops.
