Livestock News & Views

Genome Canada and Genome Alberta funded a large scale metabolomics project that was key in the 2007 announcement of the Human Metabolome.
Metabolomics is a related to genomics and proteomics and involves the rapid, high throughput characterization of the small molecule metabolites found in an organism. Since the metabolome is closely tied to the genotype of an organism, its physiology and its environment, metabolomics offers a unique opportunity to look at genotype-phenotype as well as genotype-environment relationships.
Metabolomics can be used in a variety of human applications but can also be used in the agricultural sector.
As part of our new Alberta Livestock Genomics Program, Genome Alberta and ALMA are funding a livestock metabolomics project called 'Identification of biomarkers associated with the onset & progression of major metabolic and infectious diseases of transition dairy cows'.
Here is a video presentation to help explain exactly what the science of metabolomics is all about:

Bovine respiratory disease, shipping fever, undifferentiated fever, or BRDcomplex, is a significant health problem facing the North American cattle industry.
The economic losses it generates surpass those incurred by all other diseases of cattle combined, arising from production losses, treatment costs and mortalities.

Genome Alberta and the Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency are funding a new project to sequence and compare the genomes of various strains of the disease to help develop new approaches to preventing the disease. You can find more about the new project on our site and in the meantime here is a video from the U.S. National Cattlemen's Beef Association on Bovine Respiratory Disease and how it is currently managed.