The Genome of Bos indicus (Hariana) Popularly Known as Holy Cow

The domesticated cattle provides a significant source of nutrition and livelihood to the peoples of India. Among these animals, the Hariana cow has a special place. This animal has roamed the plains of Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Utter Pradesh from ancient times; perhaps evolving during the Vedic-Aryan period or even earlier. It has evolved into a sturdy, dual  purpose, hardy animal, that continues to perform even under harsh conditions such as heat, drought; and are particularly resistant to  diseases that are prevalent in these areas of India. Although the Western Scientists have tended to look down on the potential of this animal especially in milk production but those of us in the know, know that this animal has all the potential for milk production as well. because occasionally one comes across high milk producers (my own observation while working as a Veterinarian in Punjab).

This animal so esteemed in the Indian culture, it has never failed to nurture the peoples of India; no wonder it is worshiped to the point of being given the Holy status. Physically, it is a beautiful animal to look at; it is not surprising that it has been enshrined in the temples of India. With the invent of Genomics we have, for the first time, opportunity to unlock the genetic potential of this great animal. We now have all the tools that can unlock the secrets of the genetics of this animal that resists disease, heat, and drought. In the process, we can provide for the scientific basis of a breeding program and fully realize even its milk production potential. These considerations have led us to sequence entire genome of this animal. We have particularly selected an out bred animal with the hope of finding maximum level of variations build into its genome. For this purpose, DNA from the white blood cell sample of a female Hariana cow was extracted using Qiagen kit and the randomly fragmented. DNA fragments were gel purified to an average length of about 200 to 600 bp; upon ligation to adopters, it was subjected to paired ends sequencing on a Hiseq2000 platform at BGI. The sequence reads were aligned onto the reference UMD genome 3.1 of Bos taurus. Data obtained are being subjected to bioinformatics analyses. Preliminary results suggest a very high degree of diversity in the genes of Hariana cow compared with Bos taurus based on SNP analysis. About 17,591 out of 24616 annotated genes show single nucleotide variation. These initial analyses suggest we can expect many more surprises and new information about the genetic makeup of this animal