Genotyping analyses assessing the resistance of sheep to scrapie are now carried out at Matís, under an agreement with the Agricultural Advisory Centre (RML).
The genetics team at Matís has been genotyping livestock for many years, including in relation to traits affecting fertility, genetic defects and paternity testing. The scope of the analyses now underway in connection with scrapie resistance is, however, considerably larger, with around 70–80 thousand samples expected to be analysed in 2026.
The analysis process is based on DNA sequencing: DNA is isolated from biological samples, a specific region of the PRNP gene is amplified by PCR and then sequenced. Finally, Matís specialists review the results, verify data quality and send the results to RML, where they are recorded in Fjárvís.
Alongside this service, Matís also offers additional genotyping analyses for sheep breeding – in relation to the developmental disease bógreppa and the fecundity variants Lóa and Þoka. The increased scale of the project has enabled more cost-effective operations, resulting in more favourable pricing than previously available for these analyses.
Through this development, Matís further strengthens its role in genetic analysis and research services for Icelandic agriculture, contributing to breeding efforts and the fight against scrapie in Icelandic sheep.