Genetically-improved cattle has greater carcass yield and less environmental impact

Developed by Deoxi Biotecnologia, “double-muscled” Nelore cattle have a mutation in a gene that controls production of muscle cells in the embryonic phase.

By Suzel Tunes  |  FAPESP Research for Innovation – Thirteen years of research in animal reproduction biotechnology and genomics have resulted in the creation of a new lineage of Nelore, Brazil’s hump-backed zebu breed: known as Nelore Myo, it has an increased number of muscle fibers, ensuring higher yields for the producer without the need to expand pasture, hence resulting in lower environmental costs.

The media refer to this new breed of beef cattle as “double-muscled”. It has a mutation in a gene that produces myostatin, a protein that inhibits muscle growth. This mutation, which increases the production of muscle fibers in the embryonic stage, was acquired by crossing with the Belgian Blue breed.

Developed by Deoxi Biotecnologia, a genomics laboratory founded by researcher Rodrigo Vitorio Alonso in Araçatuba, São Paulo State, Brazil, the Nelore Myo project was supported by FAPESP’s Innovative Research in Small Business Program (PIPE) and the Corporate Research Support Program run by the Brazilian Innovation Agency (FINEP), part of the Ministry of Science & Technology, under a cooperation agreement between the two institutions.

From laboratory to pasture

Project Nelore Myo ended its PIPE Stage 3, conducted simultaneously with Stage 2, in December 2016. It achieved the goals set, which were to obtain an animal with a genome that was more than 99% Nelore, inheriting only the myostatin gene mutation from Belgian Blue. The additional muscle growth leads to better cuttability or beef carcass yield, i.e., the proportion of lean edible meat and bones from the animal (excluding head, limbs and hide).

“Carcass yield is 53%-55% for a regular Nelore and 60% for a Nelore Myo,” Alonso says. He estimates a rise of up to 15% in carcass yield on average (about an extra 45 kg). In Brazil, that translates into an additional R$420 of income per head for the producer.

To arrive at this result, Alonso performed successive crossings monitored by genetic tests, on which he collaborated with geneticist Amilcar Tanuri, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). “We took a European breed that had this mutation spontaneously and induced introgression of this trait,” Alonso explains. In genetics, introgression is the transfer of genes from one breed or lineage to another after several crossings. 

Alonso began by crossing a homozygous Belgian Blue bull with the mutation (AA in the language of genetics) and a homozygous Nelore cow lacking the mutation (aa). The first generation was a heterozygous animal with 50% of traits from each breed. However, the Belgian Blue does not adapt as well to Brazil’s tropical climate as the Nelore, which is of Indian origin, so Alonso set out to develop as pure a Nelore as possible and performed additional crossings of the heterozygotes with regular Nelores to “purify” the lineage. After several generations, the animals are almost 100% pure and are distinguished only by the presence of the mutation.

Alonso notes strong market interest in this new beef cattle lineage and says he is entering into partnerships to multiply the herd. “Twenty thousand semen doses have been collected with permission from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock & Food Supply and will be distributed to partners interested in participating in the venture,” he explains.

The establishment of partnerships with cattle breeders, indeed, is the solution Alonso has found to surmounting the main challenge to his project – lack of space for breeding. “Ranchers allot space on their properties, with a guarantee that I’ll buy the calves after weaning,” he says.

Alonso sees the result of years of research in the pasture and is happy to help narrow the gap between the university and the market. “Researchers often do excellent work that results in the publication of a paper, and great wealth ends up in a drawer. I found out very early on that my goal was to do applied research, transforming knowledge into a process or product and taking it into the field. I’m an entrepreneurial scientist,” he quips.

Support started with basic research

The research that resulted in the Nelore Myo began in July 2013, but the story of this scientific success dates from 2000 when Alonso, then a student of veterinary medicine at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Araçatuba, undertook his first scientific initiation project with a scholarship from FAPESP. 

“FAPESP has supported me since I was an undergraduate,” he says. This first project, which was supervised by Professor Wilson Machado de Souza, was a study in anatomy. “I realized what I wanted to do wasn’t basic science, but the knowledge I acquired was fundamental for the ensuing research projects,” he recalls.

In 2001, while still a student, Alonso studied animal reproduction biotechnology and techniques under the guidance of biochemist José Fernando Garcia, learning to perform biopsies on embryos without killing them. From this knowledge, a company called Transfix was born in 2004. It offered DNA-based embryo sexing, a service that was then innovative. “At that time, cattle breeders didn’t know if the embryos they produced were male or female until the 60th day of gestation,” Alonso says. 

However, the service became obsolete thanks to the advances achieved in biotechnology. “Sexed semen was first made available in early 2007. It no longer made much sense performing biopsies on embryos to discover their sex,” he recalls. 

This period saw the initial development of genetic selection techniques assisted by molecular markers (DNA regions associated with relevant traits), such as weight gain or early puberty in the case of cattle breeding. When he identified demand for molecular markers, Alonso applied to PIPE for funding for his first project, which focused on bovine genome analysis.

This project was the point of departure for Deoxi, the company Alonso founded in 2008 in partnership with biologist Francine Campagnari Guilhem. “Deoxi was also strongly supported by FAPESP,” he says. “We took part in several calls for proposals and succeeded in winning some R$4 million in grants, all told, for different projects.” 

Deoxi received support from PIPE for the projects “Development of a DNA test for the selection of high-fertility bulls” and “High resolution genomic arrays and next generation sequencing in mental deficiency and congenital anomalies diagnosis”.

Deoxi strengthened its position in the Brazilian market by offering a molecular marker analysis service, until then provided only in the US. As it grew, the firm began to attract the attention of competitors abroad, including Neogen Corporation, a global animal genomics firm. Interested in entering the Brazilian market, Neogen made a takeover offer that Alonso considered too good to refuse. “Neogen came in with capital to invest in animal genomics in Brazil. We controlled the technology and the market. The word we heard most often in the talks was synergy,” Alonso recalls.

During the negotiations, in 2016, the Nelore Myo project was still under way with FAPESP’s support. Alonso, who became the general manager for Neogen’s Brazilian operation, made a point of excluding the Nelore Myo project from the agreement to acquire Deoxi, so the project was not sold to Neogen. “I’m building a new company, which will be called Nelore Myo. It will work specifically with genetic improvement and will be a customer of Neogen in the area of genomic analysis,” he says.

Deoxi Biotecnologia
Site: deoxi.com.br 
Address: Rua Duque de Caxias, 1950, Bairro Saudade, CEP: 16020-225, Araçatuba (SP), Brazil
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