Aspects of Relationships Between Genetically Determined Characters in Cattle

Abstract

Until now, the study of blood groups in cattle has resulted in the detection of at least 11 loci on the chromosomes controlling the blood groups (Stormont 1962). This number will certainly increase in the coming years. Furthermore, some other loci are known, which control electrophoretically detectable variations in substances in the blood, such as haemoglobins (Rangham 1957), transferrins (Ashton 1957, Hickman and Smithies 1957), postalbumins (Gahne 1963a) and phosphatase (Gahne 1963b). It is not likely that the limits of the possibilities are reached, since more substances are known showing a variation the genetic control of which is not yet fully understood, such as haptoglobins (Kristjansson 1962) and slow alpha 2-globulins (Ashton 1958, Gahne 1962).