Quote:
So, out of curiosity, approximately, how much does genetic testing like this cost? And how many places in the country can do it (if you know?)
It's still encouraging because computers and laser printers started out crazy expensive too and look at them now!!!It's just a matter of time.
No clue how much it would cost. We can't do it for anyone because we are under university funding. I'll see if I can find anywhere that does it thou! Technically, sometime this year for only $1,000 you can get your entire genome sequenced...meaning you can see if you will bald, are predisposed to a heart condition or cancer etc. pretty cool stuff. And yes, you are right. I'd be willing to bet in 5 years all of this info will be available. In ten, it will be about as expensive as a computer.So, out of curiosity, approximately, how much does genetic testing like this cost? And how many places in the country can do it (if you know?) It's still encouraging because computers and laser printers started out crazy expensive too and look at them now!!!It's just a matter of time.
Ok, so this goes waaaaay back on this thread, but here is how to DNA sex chicks!
I am an avian biology major and do undergraduate research at the University of Georgia. We often use chickens for studies because they are able to make things like antibodies against a protein that we are trying to detect. We just simply collect the eggs where the antibodies end up. They are also the best to use for reproductive studies as they are VERY similar to humans, they ovulate every day, their ovary is open and not encased, and they do not need to maintain a pregnancy.
I have done several surgeries on laying hens and have been involved in several studies to help find cures for things like tetratrichamonas and coccidiosis. Recently we have been raising exotic chicks for some of the younger students to get used to handling them. Before we adopt them into new homes we use DNA sexing to determine who is male and female to make sure no one ends up with something they don't want. Some people have asked and here is how we do it.
We first needed to collect 4 feather bulbs from the chicks we were interested in testing. Basically, we pluck 4 feathers and use an exacto knife to remove the buld at the end (this is where all the DNA is). For this we used a frizzle cochin, a Naked Neck, and a silkie.
You then take the bulbs and add 20 micro liters of NaOH and incubate them for 20 minutes at 72 degrees C. This breaks down the feather bulb and relsease the DNA.
After they incubate, you add 180 microliters of Tris HCl.
Once you have done that, you need to prepare your gel for a PCR. You add primers, 6 microliters of the feather bulb solution, and taq polymerase to a tube. Then you laod your gel and you run the gel at 94deg C for 2 minutes, then 25 cycles of 94 deg C for 5 seconds, 54 deg C for 5 seconds, 72 deg C for 5 sec. Then it is run at 72 deg C for 5 minutes.
Here is me preparing the tubes to be loaded into the gel.
This is the gel running. You can see the blue lines in it. That is our DNA.
This is the final picture of the gel. You have to put it under a fluorescent light to see all the bands. It isn't entirely finished running, but we could see the results we needed at this point. The first lane (on the left) is the Ladder. This is just a standard that is used to show molecular weights and lets you know if your gel ran properly. The second band is the frizzle, the third is the naked neck (really hard to see), and the fourth is the silkie. Because each lane only has one band we know that all the chicks we tested are male.
Male chickens are homozygous with ZZ (unlike human males that have XY), thus why only one band for Z shows up. Female chickens are heterozygous with ZW (human females are XX), so if there had been a female chick two bands would have shown up: one for Z and one for W.
Hope you guys enjoyed this
Yeah she is, I told her to the other day. She said she did it for a while last night and she's gonna do it again tonight.
It is just bantams, and yes it is a great book. For a few dollars more you can get all APA breeds.You guys have any suggestions on where to order the SOP for bantams?
I've finally decided to order one to help me with breeding in the spring!
I found this one, $35.00 seems awfully cheap. Is this a good book? lol
http://www.cutlersupply.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_18&products_id=80
Oh, good. I was second guessing the price because I've seen the APA SOP's for all breeds sell for over a $100 online. lol
Ok, so I was down at the barn tonight and I was looking over my juveniles. I have been keeping an eye on one little black cockerel that was knocking my socks off! I discovered that he has gold leakage in the hackles! He is another boy from a true black pen. He's such an attractive bird, typey, nice foot feathering, good wings, big crest (for a boy), and a fluffy tail. It seems like my blacks are dropping like flies. Now what? He's soooo nice.
