La révolution génomique au service de la filière viande bovine

Abstract

Genomics has brought with it a true biological revolution and has a great number of potential applications in all areas of life sciences. In animal sciences, it will become possible to improve the production of milk or meat according to consumer demands. Concerning food safety, molecular tools have already been commercialized for the detection of contaminants in meat. Genetic markers i.e. DNA markers, have also been marketed to detect the origins of individual bovine animals and their breed. For the genetic selection of cattle, DNA markers likely to be employed for the selection of tenderness or marbling traits of beef have been patented by Australian scientists. Several ongoing projects in France, Europe and the USA aim at studying the relevance of these markers and finding new ones. In muscle biology, tracking gene expression with DNA chips or by physically separating the expressed proteins has led to the identification of genes that play an important role in muscle development. These genes could in turn serve as new biological markers for tenderness, marbling or rearing practices. Large-scale projects both publicly and privately funded, in Europe, the South Sea Islands, and especially in North America aim at exploiting to a maximum new advances in genomics in favour of beef production.