Patent ID: 7723025

Claim:
A method for identifying a bovine animal likely to have a higher percentage of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content in beef fat obtained from said bovine animal, said method comprising: obtaining a biological sample from said bovine animal, said sample comprising nucleic acids from said bovine animal; and detecting in said nucleic acids the presence of an A allele of a bovine stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) gene, wherein determining the presence of said A allele comprises detecting: (i) an A nucleotide in the bovine SCD gene at a position corresponding to position 702 of SEQ ID NO: 1; (ii) a T nucleotide in the bovine SCD gene at a position corresponding to position 762 of SEQ ID NO: 1; or (iii) a C nucleotide in the bovine SCD gene at a position corresponding to position 878 of SEQ ID NO: 1; and correlating the presence of the A allele with a higher percentage of MUFA content in beef fat obtained from said bovine animal.