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Porcine respiratory and the reproductive syndrome virus (PRRSV) Host Genetics Consortium: A proposal to develop a consortium to study the role of host genetics and resistance to PRRSV infection. <OL> <LI> Use genotyping and phenotyping tools to determine if there are host genes controlling resistance/susceptibility to fPRRSV infection <LI> Verify genetic variation in response to PRRSV, via improved health, survivability and growth <LI> Identify relative importance of different phenotypes and their heritability, that predict response to PRRSV infection.
Approach: This is a multi-year program project that is funded by a consortium representing the National Pork Board (NPB), USDA and private companies. The consortium represents the first-of-its-kind approach to food animal infectious disease research. Even though the budget is for one year it is expected that the NPB will support the project at a similar level for a total of three years. Additional funds could be available from the USDA, CSREES, PRRS CAP2 grant. Companies are expected to support the project at a level of $1 million for the three year period. Most of the contributions will be in-kind. Funding for the first year is in two parts. The first is the infection and sample collection from pigs, which will be conducted at K-State. The second part is the allocation of funding for two subcontracts. One subcontract will involve the creation of a relational database (Reecy at Iowa State); the second will be cytokine testing and sample cataloging (Lunney at ARS, USDA).