New program to study sheep genomics launched

Meat and Livestock Australia has launched a $15 million sheep genomics project to identify genes and develop tests for immunity to internal parasites and early diagnosis of Ovine Johnes and other diseases, increased efficiency of muscle growth, and improved reproduction.

"Our priorities will be to identify gene markers for parasite and disease resistance, markers for different muscle traits and on reproductive technologies to improve lamb survival and weaning percentages," MLA southern production research manager Dr Hutton Oddy said.

"Intestinal parasites cost the sheep industry $280 million in 1995 in chemical treatments and lost production, and this is predicted to grow to $1 billion by 2010. The savings from the ability to identify sheep with parasite-resistant genes alone is huge."

The project will be funded jointly by producer levies and the Federal government. Three million dollars per year will be spent on genomics research for the next five years.

Scientists from a variety of disciplines including genetics, cell biology, animal physiology and veterinary science will be involved in the project, which will also draw on international sheep functional genomics projects in New Zealand, the US and Europe.

The results of the research may be used to develop commercial products, according to Dr Andrew Parratt a biotechnology consultantworking for MLA.

"Certainly, there is an expectation that the outputs from the program will lead to the development of a range of diagnostics in the disease, meat quality, and efficiency of production areas," he explained.

Parratt said that while MLA would seek to commercialise IP with co-investors, any income derived would be invested back into research. He added that discoveries in sheep might also be found to be useful in other species, including cattle and could even have human applicability.

The initiative is likely to be the subject of a bid for ARC (Australian Research Council) linkage funding later this year, said Parratt, although the funding for the project is not contingent upon ARC funding.

"Just as the Plant Functional Genomics Centre was established with joint funding from the ARC and the Grains Research Development Corporation and the SA government, we believe this is an excellent opportunity for the ARC to join another RDC to fund basic research in problems facing a $10 billion per annum industry," he explained.