Blood DNA Test for Resistance versus Susceptibility to Mad Cow Disease in Cattle

Biogenetic Services, Inc. conducts blood DNA tests to determine resistance versus susceptibility to BSE (Mad Cow Disease) in cattle. The company conducts the analyses using DNA technology under a license with the Texas A&M University System.

It is generally known that Mad Cow disease in cattle is caused by the ingestion of prion proteins in meat and bone meal primarily from scrapie infected sheep or BSE infected cattle. It is also known that pathogenic prions can arise spontaneously and that they cannot be destroyed by high heat.

Breeding and producing cattle that are resistant to BSE could be an important strategy for eradicating Mad Cow disease and thereby ensuring the safety of our beef products.

A relatively recent study by Bossers et.al. (1996) noted that the promoter region of the PRNP gene influences the expression level of the prion protein and thus the incubation period of BSE. This suggests that animals with resistance to BSE would be less likely to contract Mad Cow disease.

It is reassuring for consumers to know that breeders and producers have a powerful tool available to help them identify, select and breed resistant animals to thereby improve the level of resistance to Mad Cow disease in the U.S. cattle population. Thus, the immediate benefit to breeders, producers and ultimately the consumers is that selective cattle breeding programs will lead to individual animals as well as entire cattle populations with high levels of resistance to Mad Cow disease.

An additional important benefit may be improving beef exports to countries currently not accepting U.S. beef with the knowledge that exported animals have resistance to Mad Cow disease and therefore are not likely to have the disease.

Another use of the information concerning resistance versus susceptibility to BSE will be to test the highly susceptible animals being slaughtered for food to determine whether they have Mad Cow disease. This will help to prevent infected animals from entering the food supply where they could transmit pathogenic prions to humans.

Thus, it is clear that this blood DNA test is a powerful tool capable of rapid identification of cattle possessing genotypes associated with phenotypic expression of Mad Cow disease. It is also clear that this DNA tool is invaluable to both the domestic cattle industry as well as to consumers and their health.

How to order a DNA/PCR BSE (Mad Cow Disease) Resistance Analysis

1. Click Here to View and Print an Order Form. An order form includes a packing slip and sample shipping instructions.
2. Mail the completed form(s), sample(s), and payment information to Biogenetic Services, Inc.

Note: The ordering documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader® for viewing and printing.

If you have any questions about the order forms, sample collection and mailing, or testing services, please contact Biogenetic Services, Inc.

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