2008 Woodie Awards
Transgenic cows fight mastitis
Mastitis is a huge problem in the dairy industry, costing farmers an average of two million dollars per year
Emma Templeton
Issue date: 4/25/06 Section: Science
Animal science professor Dr. David Kerr is currently researching a new way for farmers to fight mastitis, an infection of a cow's udder that is associated with the staphylococcus aureus bacterium. Essentially, mastitis increases the somatic cell count within the milk of the affected udder quarter.
This increase can make that quarter's milk lumpy or watery, both conditions that force farmers to abandon the milk and lose money. Also, treating a cow for mastitis is a costly venture, not only because of the price of the medicines, but also because of the amount of milk lost while the cow is being treated
Mastitis is a huge problem in the dairy industry, costing farmers an average of two million dollars per year, or about 200 dollars a year per cow. If farmers were able to save that money, then the cost of milk could ultimately be reduced, and farmers' earnings could be increased.
Dr. Kerr is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, researching a solution to this problem involving transgenic cows. A transgenic organism is one that has been manipulated to contain both its own genes and one or more genes from another organism.
When scientists are successful, the transgenic organism expresses a different phenotype, or appearance, than before the manipulation. Some scientists have tried to insert a gene from jellyfish, responsible for their luminescence, into a monkey, and achieved the expected result: a glow-in-the-dark monkey!
In 2001, Dr. Kerr's first accomplishment was born: Anne, a cloned cow. Kerr found a way to encode the amino acids that make up lysostaphin, an antimicrobial protein that can kill s. aureus, into Anne's DNA. This cow was then able to produce lysostaphin in her milk, and ultimately resist infections by s. aureus.
Dr. Kerr has tested the produced milk to make sure that it is safe for human consumption, and so far milk with lysostaphin has been shown to be completely harmless to humans. Milk with lysostaphin also does not affect culturing milk for yogurt or cheese.
This increase can make that quarter's milk lumpy or watery, both conditions that force farmers to abandon the milk and lose money. Also, treating a cow for mastitis is a costly venture, not only because of the price of the medicines, but also because of the amount of milk lost while the cow is being treated
Mastitis is a huge problem in the dairy industry, costing farmers an average of two million dollars per year, or about 200 dollars a year per cow. If farmers were able to save that money, then the cost of milk could ultimately be reduced, and farmers' earnings could be increased.
Dr. Kerr is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, researching a solution to this problem involving transgenic cows. A transgenic organism is one that has been manipulated to contain both its own genes and one or more genes from another organism.
When scientists are successful, the transgenic organism expresses a different phenotype, or appearance, than before the manipulation. Some scientists have tried to insert a gene from jellyfish, responsible for their luminescence, into a monkey, and achieved the expected result: a glow-in-the-dark monkey!
In 2001, Dr. Kerr's first accomplishment was born: Anne, a cloned cow. Kerr found a way to encode the amino acids that make up lysostaphin, an antimicrobial protein that can kill s. aureus, into Anne's DNA. This cow was then able to produce lysostaphin in her milk, and ultimately resist infections by s. aureus.
Dr. Kerr has tested the produced milk to make sure that it is safe for human consumption, and so far milk with lysostaphin has been shown to be completely harmless to humans. Milk with lysostaphin also does not affect culturing milk for yogurt or cheese.
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