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SHEEP PROVIDE FERTILITY CLUES
New contraceptives and treatments for infertility in
women could be developed as a result of research being carried out
by world experts in sheep fertility.
The research may also hold the key to future
fertility treatments for other mammals, improved livestock
production, and new opportunities for possum control.
AgResearch scientist Dr Jenny Juengel is studying
sheep with naturally-occurring genetic variation affecting
fertility, to find out exactly what causes differences in fertility
and how it can be controlled.
Speaking at the annual molecular biology
conference in Queenstown this week, Dr Juengel will expand on how
valuable sheep are as a model for identifying new mechanisms to
regulate fertility, and what this may mean for developing new
therapeutics to regulate fertility in mammals.
Variations in fertility occur naturally across
many species, and families of sheep carrying natural mutations
associated with exceptional fertility were identified in the late
1970s. Animal breeding and genetics research, alongside molecular
genetics and reproductive physiology lead to the discovery of
specific genes, and the importance that proteins produced in the
ovary play in regulating fertility.
This research is supported by Ovita Ltd, FRST and
the Marsden Fund.
AgResearch Media Release, 1 December 2004 |
