Professor Moshe Soller of Hebrew University in Jerusalem will speak about animal breeding and genetics in a lecture titled “The Trypanotolerance Mapping Project Final Results and Future Prospects” at 3:10 p.m. today in Room 105 of Kildee Hall.

“Animal trypanotolerance, animal sleeping sickness disease, is a major block to animal development in sub-Saharan Africa,” Soller said. “The disease attacks all domestic animals of the region. In developing countries such as Africa, cattle plow the land. They are faced with irregular agriculture because of the disease.”

This lecture goes along with a group project that Soller, along with Max Rothschild, distinguished professor in animal science, is working on to control the genetic traits in livestock of economic importance.

“Soller is a very famous geneticist, and because he is world-renowned, it is very positive to have him come to Iowa State,” Rothschild said. “He is considered one of a handful of experts on the topic of molecular genetics.”

The connection between sub-Saharan Africa and Iowa, Soller said, is that it “provides an example of working out the genetics of animal resistance to scientists who may be working on diseases relevant to Iowa.”

Soller said the genetic approach isn’t the only way to control the disease, which is spread by tsetse flies.

The flies can be controlled with traps and insecticides, but this is a costly method and flies eventually will develop resistance to the insecticide.

Another method is to expose the cattle to an ongoing medical treatment to keep infection from happening.

This, too, is an expensive method.

“All of the approaches to curbing the disease work,” Soller said, “but the genetic approach is the most popular because the rest are too risky or expensive.”

The genetic approach to curbing the disease works by looking for a source of resistance and identifying the gene or chromosome region responsible for the resistance of the animal, Soller said.

“If a resistance is found, it is tagged with a genetic marker. The markers are used to breed productive animals that are resistant to the disease,” Soller said. “Developing a means of dealing with the disease is key for agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa.”

The lecture is free, and all are welcome to attend.