This MFA scholar is continuing his education in the field of genetics. His goal is to use science to better equip livestock producers back on the farm.

Matthew McClure has done his fair share of chores. Growing up on a diversified farm at Green Ridge, near Sedalia, Mo., McClure had a hand in crops, swine and beef enterprises. But now, as a graduate student at the University of Missouri, his chores take on a different light. Feed buckets, tractor time and muddy boots are replaced by phenol, the whirl of a centrifuge and a freezer full of DNA samples.

McClure, who is working on a master's degree in animal science with an emphasis in genetics, is hard at work processing and studying the thousands of genetic samples recently donated to the university by Circle A Angus Ranch of Iberia, Mo.

The donated genetic material and performance records from Circle A owners, the David Gust Sr. family, are estimated to be worth $5.6 million. Essentially, the donation consists of thousands of genetic samples from blood and semen, along with about 17 megabytes of detailed animal performance data. What makes it so valuable, and of such interest to scientists, is the scope of information.

"As far as we can tell, we now have the largest beef genetics database in the world," said McClure, noting that other sizeable databases exist. "What is unique about this one is that it is specifically Angus, and the pedigree is pretty tight."

McClure is studying under Jerry Taylor, the MU Wurdack Endowed Chair for Animal Genomics, and project leader for work with the Circle A donation. The donation promises to keep McClure and other graduate students busy for some time.

Experience first
McClure's route to graduate study in animal genetics was circuitous, but he said there is value to the experience he gained along the way.

"I started in agricultural engineering and management," said McClure. "That lasted until I took Calculus II, and I decided that engineering wasn't the route for me."

When McClure took an undergraduate genetics class and enjoyed the coursework, his plans crystallized.

McClure credits MFA's and other scholarships with affording him an opportunity to consider his plans.

"Having the scholarships allowed me to not worry so much about trying to find a job and let me focus on studying. It let me start to realize what I wanted to do as a career," he said.

That decision led him to a degree in biochemistry in which he focused on genetics. After graduating, McClure worked in a couple of research labs, investigating arthritis through work with mice and working on genetics with zebra fish. Such work bolstered the idea that he wanted to continue with education and become a higher level researcher. He wasn'nt sure whether to focus on human or livestock genetics, deciding finally that there was plenty opportunity in both but that livestock was his preference. It didn'nt hurt that his father, MFA corporate board member, William McClure, dropped hints that livestock genetics would tie in well with Matthew's farm background.

McClure met Taylor at a MU Genetics Area Program seminar and began to visit Taylor's lab to better understand work being done there. By January 2004, he was once again enrolled in school and working in beef genetics in Taylor's lab.

McClure's work to process the Circle A donation so far consists of using a series of chemical reactions to extract DNA and quantify the amount of DNA present in the samples. The DNA is then cataloged and put in a scientific-grade freezer, stored at a chilly (and stable) -80 C.

"Depending on the size of the original sample," said McClure, "we end up with a DNA pellet that ranges in size from about a pinhead up to the end of a pencil eraser. The nice thing is that's a lot of DNA. We can run thousands of tests with that amount of DNA."

The big picture

Once DNA is cataloged, researchers can study samples to see if specific genes can be matched to specific carcass traits. McClure said the work will be complex because a specific trait may have a host of different genes contributing to its expression in the animal.

"We're looking at rate of gain traits, feed efficiency, marbling and other carcass traits," he said. "Eventually, we'd like to be able to look at a DNA sample from an animal and predict the traits it will have."

In shorthand, the work being done will lay the footwork for a quick genetic test on a living animal to determine what traits are present\hether the animal will gain well, grade well, etc.

"Right now, with pigs, you can do sonograms to predict carcass quality. In the future, a beef producer might be able to predict [quality] from a blood or hair sample," said McClure.

He added that the database they are building from DNA samples and herd records is the foundation of a complex system. They will have to figure out how different genes interact before they can predict specific potential through specific traits.

Real world

McClure credits the virtues of rural businesses like MFA for supporting him and other youth through purchasing livestock at fairs, offering scholarships and giving him a place to market the crops he continued to grow even as he left for college.

Now that he is working on a project like the Circle A genetics donation, he sees that he can make good as a farm boy in a laboratory by offering tangible benefits back to agriculture.

"I like it because coming from a farm background, I can see directly how it will benefit farmers. It has more ending points; if we find something that will give better marbling scores, great. People can use it."