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describe the Brave New World conceived by Aldous Huxley in 1932;
today we stand on the brink of a brave new world characterized
by the possibilities contained inside a double helix. Recent
technological advances in human and animal genetics have lead to
sequencing the human genome, mapping the severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus and in the near future, the
release of the completed bovine genetic code. Dr. James E.
Womack, a distinguished professor at the College of Veterinary
Medicine, Texas A&M University has spent 22 years in cattle
genetics analyzing comparative maps that allow him to use the
human genome as a rough key to unlocking the cattle code. "One
of the great things of working with a species like cattle is
that we have the human model to follow," Womack said. "We've had
to develop a few new technologies specific to cattle,
particularly in the statistical analysis and the breeding
structure of families but as far as laboratory ben