The genes tied to milk production is well knows in cattle but not as well known in sheep.
In this article the production and relation of milk production in cattle and sheep is examined. The knowledge of milk producing genes has been common knowledge in cattle for a number of years. The loci that codes for milk production in dairy cattle has been identified at three different genes. These genes are the DGAT1, GHR and ABCG2 genes. There is a fourth gene SPP1 that researchers believe might also be tied into milk production. As for sheep, the milk production loci has been discovered only recently and have not been successful traced to a single or multiple genes. Researchers took into account the relative similarity between dairy cattle and sheep in regards to their phylogenetic relationship and inserted DGAT1, GHR and ABCG2 and SPP1 genes into fifteen dairy sheep to see if there was a positive correlation between the inserted genes and milk production. Unfortunately, there was no strong relationship found between the two.
Mmm sheep milk. It's whats for breakfast. It'd be interesting to see if we could find genes in more milking animals and increase milk output in them. Maybe there is a better milk than cow's milk but we haven't found it yet?
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