Researchers from the Bovine Genome Sequencing Project are nearing completion on sequencing the genome of the cow and have released on free public databases bovine genetic information, including the most current, complete and accurate genome sequence and an upgraded genetic map.

According to a USDA-ARS release, the new bovine genome sequence contains 2.9 billion DNA base pairs and incorporated one-third more data than earlier versions. This high-quality sequence, which covers 95 percent of the genome, will enable researchers to make accurate gene predictions and evolutionary comparisons. The sequencing was conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center, in Houston.

The sequence data is available on the Baylor website.