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Belgian Blue cattle. After the discovery of the gene encoding myostatin in 1997, several laboratories cloned and established the nucleotide sequence of a myostatin gene in two breeds of cattle, Belgian Blue and Piedmontese. They found mutations in the myostatin gene (various mutations in each breed) which in one way or another lead to absence ...
The Belgian Blue is another cattle that can lack myostatin and have double muscles. The Belgian Blue originates from central and upper Belgium. The breed was established in the early 20th century. The Belgian Blue was once divided into two strains, one for beef and the other for milk. The Belgian Blue is now primarily beef.
Belgian Blue bull Cow with the scars from caesarean sections. The Belgian Blue (French: 'Blanc-Bleu Belge', Dutch: 'Belgisch Witblauw', both literally meaning "Belgian White-Blue") is a breed of beef cattle from Belgium. [2] It may also be known as the Race de la Moyenne et Haute Belgique, [4]: 95 or dikbil (literally "fat buttocks" in Dutch).
From about 1960, breeding of the Belgian Blue – known in France as the Blanc-Bleu – concentrated heavily on beef production and on the "double-muscling" characteristic. A small number of French breeders continued to raise the older dual-purpose type. A new herd-book for the Bleue du Nord was opened in 1986 [2] [3] or 1998. [5]: 132
The active-myostatin gene acts as a "governor" on muscle growth; myostatin is a protein that instructs muscles to stop growing. In effect, when inactive, as it is with Piedmontese cattle, it no longer prevents muscle development which is what allows for the hypertrophic condition sometimes referred to as "double muscling". [7]
Of the 14 Limousins tested during the research that led to the discovery of the F94L variant, 12 cattle were homozygous for the variant and two were heterozygous. The second myostatin genes in both heterozygous cases were each different myostatin MH variants of types normally found in Belgian Blue and Charolais cattle. [51] [52]
Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production (as distinguished from dairy cattle, used for milk production). The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operations, backgrounding, and feedlot operations. The production cycle of the animals starts at cow-calf ...
Mutation and selection A Belgian Blue cow. The defect in the breed's myostatin gene is maintained through linebreeding and is responsible for its accelerated lean muscle growth. This Chihuahua mix and Great Dane shows the wide range of dog breed sizes created using selective breeding.