Minireview
The origin and evolution of lactation
1 USDA-ARS, Bovine Functional Genomics Laboratory, Powder Mill, BARC-East, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
2 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Dairy Science, 2470 Litton-Reaves Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Journal of Biology 2009, 8:37 doi:10.1186/jbiol139
Published: 24 April 2009Abstract
The presence of mammary glands is the defining morphological feature of mammals. The recent assembly of the bovine genome and a report in Genome Biology that links the milk and lactation data of bovine and other mammalian genomes will help biologists investigate this economically and medically important feature.
