http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-02/pu-sfm021207.php

>Public release date: 12-Feb-2007
>
>Contact: Susan A. Steeves
>[log in to unmask]
>765-496-7481
>Purdue University
>Scientists find method to pick noncompetitive animals, improve
>production
>
>
>WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A new statistical method of determining genetic
>traits that influence social interactions among animals may provide for
>more productive livestock.
>
>Scientists from Purdue University, the Netherlands and England
>designed mathematical equations based on traits to choose animals that
>are more congenial in groups, said William Muir, a Purdue Department
>of Animal Sciences geneticist. The new method is a tool that may
>contribute both to animal well-being and to securing the world's
>future food supply, including possibly permitting more animals to
>be domesticated, Muir said.
>
>The tool makes it possible to design selective breeding programs to
>effectively reduce competitive interactions in livestock, he said.
>The method also aids in predicting how social interactions impact
>the natural evolution of species.
>
>Muir and his colleagues write about the tool and its effectiveness in
>two papers published in the current issue of the journal Genetics. The
>journal's cover highlights the work with a photograph that Muir took
>of various colorful fish species interacting in a simulated ecosystem
>at the Monterey, Calif., aquarium.
>
>"There is an inherited part of the associations among animals that has
>profound effects on performance," Muir said. "It's called competition.
>Animals compete for food, space, territory and mates."
>
>In the first of the two papers, Muir and his colleagues explain the
>tool they developed to determine inherited traits that contribute to
>interactions among both individual animals and groups. The second
>paper refines the methodology and validates it by applying the tool
>to a flock of chickens.
>
>In previous research, Muir showed that choosing less aggressive
>animals from a group for breeding purposes increases productivity. In
>the latest research, the scientists show that aggressiveness and all
>other traits affecting social interactions are inherited and can be
>estimated. They also found that by using the new tool they were able
>to confirm two-thirds more inherited trait variations that impact
>social interactions than could be identified with classical selection
>analysis.
>
>"Now we have a tool to explain how species in nature evolved in
>response to each other," Muir said. "It can be applied across species
>and can tell us how social interactions developed in the past and will
>develop in the future between individuals and among various animal
>species.
>
>"This is important because the most stable ecosystems are those that
>have multiple species that cohabitate. Natural selection is nature's
>way of keeping the ecosystem in balance."
>
>Muir previously proved that animals living in groups and bred to be
>more passive sustain fewer injuries and are more productive than
>animals bred naturally. For instance, chickens bred to be less
>aggressive don't engage in as much pecking, which often causes severe
>injury and even death. The energy that animals used for negative
>behavior or to avoid such activities is then transferred to
>production.
>
>"This selection methodology is a roadmap to improving the breeding of
>domesticated animals," Muir said. "The tool also could allow us to
>domesticate more species as readily available food sources, such as
>cannibalistic shellfish and game fish."
>
>###The other researchers on these studies are Piter Bijma, Esther
>Ellen and Johan Van Arendonk of Wageningen University, The
>Netherlands, and Jason Wolf of the University of Manchester in
>Manchester, England.
>
>This research is part of the regional project Advanced Technologies
>for the Genetic Improvement of Poultry.
>
>Writer: Susan A. Steeves, (765) 496-7481, [log in to unmask]

>
>Source: William Muir, (765) 494-8032, [log in to unmask]
>Related Web sites:
>William Muir: http://www.ansc.purdue.edu/faculty/muir.htm
>Genetics: http://www.genetics.org/future/175.1.shtml
>Wageningen University: http://www.wau.wageningen-ur.nl/welcome.html
>University of Manchester: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/
>
>PHOTO CAPTION:

>All plants and animals compete for limited resources such as food,
>mates, sun and territory. William Muir, a Purdue geneticist, has found
>a quantitative method of determining inherited traits that affect
>social inactions. Using this information can help breed for less
>aggressive animals that will be more productive. Muir is shown with
>Shamu, a domesticated tilapia. (Purdue Agricultural Communication
>photo/Tom Campbell)
>
>A publication-quality photo is available at
> http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2007/muir-selection.jpg
>
>The abstracts on the research in this release are available at:
> http://news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007a/070212MuirSelection.html

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