A new inherited disease identified in calves of the Ayrshire breed
Monday, January 19, 2015 - 09:30
in Biology & Nature
The research group led by Professor Magnus Andersson at University of Helsinki has discovered a new inherited disease that causes ptosis, retarded growth, intellectual disability and mortality in Ayrshire calves. The disease proved to be associated with a mutation in UBE3B gene. Of the 129 tested Ayrshire AI bulls recently used in Finland, 17% carried the mutation. Moreover, UBE3B mutation may be connected to AH1 haplotype, which is associated with reduced fertility and has a carrier frequency of 26.1% in the North American Ayrshire population. The study was published in BMC Genomics journal on 12 October 2014.