home → articles → Genetics & Performance | Email to a Friend

Reusable Bio-Chips Supports Cattle Genotyping

published: July 9th 2010
source: Catle Business Weekly

Fluidigm Corporation has developed the world's first reusable bio-chip architecture for the commercial market. These reusable integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) will dramatically lower SNP genotyping costs and are designed to support accelerated sample throughput, while maintaining data quality of 99.75 percent or greater accuracy and 99 percent or greater call rates.

Fluidigm initially invented this architecture to support a progressive new program driven by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the chief scientific research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The program's goal is to drive high sample throughput genotyping down to a penny-per-data-point, which would enable widespread adoption of genetic analysis in vegetable and fruit seeds, livestock (cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry, etc.) and fishery management. This will significantly improve the quality and quantity of the food supply, while lowering production costs.

"We know that the wise use of genetics in agriculture can significantly improve our ability to predict an animal's or seed's capability to withstand disease, to produce high-quality product and to enhance a productive life. The ongoing challenge has been that genotyping simply costs too much to run the large number of experiments required to find the genetic markers that matter. Then, once found, the cost is still too prohibitive to implement these genetic quality controls across the millions and millions of seeds, animals and fish that make up our food production system," explained Curt Van Tassell PhD., ARS Research Geneticist.

'We determined that modest cost reductions were not sufficient to transform the traditional selection practices that would dramatically improve our food supply. We decided to set a 'moon shot' type of goal. To achieve a tipping point necessary to transform industry and scientists, we needed to decrease the cost-per-data-point down to a penny - all in (chemical reagents, consumables, etc.)," added Van Tassell. "If we could achieve that type of cost structure, it would allow us to determine parentage and traceability information for under a dollar per animal. This low price point would allow animal evaluations under conditions that were not feasible before - such as in sub-Saharan Africa. This technology could provide the information to improve animals for some of the world's poorest livestock producers. By developing and using breed or trait specific panels, we can realize substantial gains in productivity across cattle as well as other livestock and plant species."

Fluidigm's new reuse architecture represents the first step towards making this lofty goal a reality.

 "We are elated that Fluidigm's reusable bio-chip can contribute to improving the food supply and bring the benefits of genetic analysis and testing to AgBio scientists and producers around the globe," said Gajus Worthington, president and chief executive officer of Fluidigm.

The ARS  program, led by Dr. Van Tassell, plans to integrate reusable chips into their program to identify molecular markers to determine how to raise the predictive accuracy of evaluated traits in cattle (Van Tassell's research focus), thus increasing the rate of productivity improvement.  The ARS projects have involved top researchers in government, academia and industry to find the best and most cost-effective genetic testing markers and methods to improve the quality and productivity of the nation's agricultural resources.