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University of Idaho

Physical Address:
E. J. Iddings Agricultural Science Laboratory, Rm 213
606 S Rayburn St

Mailing Address:
875 Perimeter Drive MS 2330
Moscow, ID 83844-2330

Phone: 208-885-6345

Fax: 208-885-6420

Email: avfs@uidaho.edu

Web: uidaho.edu/cals/avfs

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Livestock Genetics and Phenotypic Trait Research

The Livestock Genetics and Phenotypic Trait Research laboratory utilizes the best molecular tools towards a better understanding of the genetically mediated regulation of economically important traits in livestock species including; beef cattle, dairy cattle and sheep. The traits examined include efficiency, immune function, disease resistance, beef quality, muscle growth, fertility, fecundity, longevity and recombination in male and female gametogenesis.

Research

  • Characterizing the relationship between genetic and epigenetic variation with economically important biological traits.
  • Exploit modern molecular and genetic technologies to further improve the understanding of how genomic variations affect biological processes of both undesirable (disease) and desirable (economically important) phenotypic traits.

Current projects

  • Ruminant Telomere-to-telomere (RT2T)
  • Development of genomic reference materials for cattle
  • Animal Breeding-RCN: Farm Animal Genomics Collaborative
  • Sheep and cattle pangenome
  • Sheep and cattle pan epigenome
  • Heat stress and fetal loss in cattle
  • Meiotic recombination

  • Cantrell B, Lachance H, Murdoch B, Sjoquist J, Funston R, Weaber T McKay S. Global DNA methylation in the limbic system of cattle. Epigenomes (2019) 3(2).
  • Davenport K, McKay S, Fahey A, Gill C, Murdoch B. Meiotic recombination differences in rams from three breeds of sheep in the U.S. Cytogenet Genome Res (2018) Oct. 9.
  • Peer N, Law S, Murdoch B, Goulding E, Eddy E, Kim K. Germ cell-specific retinoic acid receptor alpha functions in germ cell organization, meiosis, and spermatogonia. Endocrinology (2018) Aug. 6.
  • Davenport KM, Duan M, Hunter SS, New DD, Fagnan MW, Highland MA, Murdoch BM. Complete mitochondrial genome sequence of bighorn sheep. Genome Announcements (2018) June 7;6(23).
  • Kalbfleisch TS, Murdoch BM, Smith TPL, Murdoch JD, Heaton MP and McKay SD. A SNP resource for studying North American moose. F1000 Research (2018) 13501.
  • Murdoch BM, Murdoch GK, Greenwood S, McKay S. Nutritional influence on epigenetic marks and effects on livestock production. Frontiers in Genetics, (2016) Oct. 24;7: 182.

For more information, please contact:

Brenda Murdoch

Associate Professor

Ag Biotech, Room 311

208-885-2088

bmurdoch@uidaho.edu

Research scientists

  • Temitayo Olagunju, Ph.D.
  • Shangqian Xie, Ph.D.
  • Gabrielle Becker, Ph.D.
  • Katie Shira, Ph.D.

Recent alumni

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Contact

University of Idaho

Physical Address:
E. J. Iddings Agricultural Science Laboratory, Rm 213
606 S Rayburn St

Mailing Address:
875 Perimeter Drive MS 2330
Moscow, ID 83844-2330

Phone: 208-885-6345

Fax: 208-885-6420

Email: avfs@uidaho.edu

Web: uidaho.edu/cals/avfs

Directions