Associated Press
02/05/06
ISU saves chicken DNA
By The Associated Press
AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University is working to safeguard the genetic
material of what researchers consider an irreplaceable collection of research
chickens.
The ISU Poultry Research Center houses more than two dozen of the special
chicken varieties, said Sue Lamont, an animal science professor who took
responsibility for the research lines in 1983.
The chickens have been inbred for generations to share genetic material — an
important control factor in research.
“That allows us to understand when we are studying, for example, a disease,
what part ... is due to the genetics as compared to the environment,” Lamont
said.
Because the chickens are isolated generation to generation, “it also means that I
can work with these birds today and another researcher can work with them
decades from now and they are consistent.”
To make sure the research lines aren’t lost or destroyed, the university has
stockpiled 300 sperm samples from its roosters at a U.S. Department of
Agriculture research center in Colorado.
The effort came after two tornadoes touched down in Ames last fall. The twisters
came close to the university, but didn’t heavily damage any campus property.
The previous year, animal rights activists broke into a University of Iowa
laboratory, freeing laboratory mice and rats and destroying data.
“We always need to think about any potential factor or event that might cause a
loss of valuable material,” Lamont said. “It might be deliberate — or inadvertent.”
She said it’s important to protect the chicken lines because the research is
“unique and has had 75 years of development.”
Research projects include examining chickens’ resistance to disease, their
response to vaccinations, growth and skeletal strength.
Current technology only allows the male genetic material to be preserved. So, if
ISU’s chicken lines were wiped out, the samples would be used to inseminate
hens of other lines. The chickens would continue to be inbred for uniformity, to
maintain the genes scientists find most useful.
“Because this process would preserve those specific genes, that’s our major
interest,” Lamont said.
In Colorado, the poultry semen is cryogenically stored at the National Center for
Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins. The center stores genetic
material from animals and crops important to the nation’s agriculture and
landscape, ensuring that they can be regenerated.
“From our perspective, this is a valuable contribution to the collection,” said
Harvey Blackburn, coordinator of the National Animal Germplasm Program.
“There are opportunities for people, at some point in the future, to come and
utilize the genetic resources that we have here in the repository,” he said.
Lamont said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has recognized the
poultry center’s efforts, deeming them critical to the nation.
On the Net:
Iowa State University: http://www.iastate.edu/
National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/npa/ftcollins/ncgrp - Also ran in Quad City Times, IA