“This effort is a culmination of many years of dreaming about such an opportunity and finally getting access to the data and funding to make it happen,” said James E. Koltes, associate professor of animal science at Iowa State University.
Koltes is referring to a new USDA-supported project he is leading with colleagues at Iowa State and several partner institutions to create a systematic catalog, or encyclopedia, of the DNA netherworld scientists call “genetic regulatory regions” for livestock species. The research sets the stage for important discoveries by identifying regulatory DNA variation that could be useful in breeding for improved animal efficiency and health.