Morris Soller

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Morris Soller (born 1931) is an American-Israeli research professor in the Department of Genetics of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is especially interested in livestock- and crop- genetics including trypanotolerance in cattle.

Contents

Early life and education

Soller was born in Manhattan, New York City in 1931. [1] [2] At the age of 12 he was first inspired to learn about genetics by reading The Theory of the Gene by Thomas Hunt Morgan. [3] [1] [4] : ix  While an undergraduate he read Jay Laurence Lush's Animal Breeding Plans and learned much from it [1] [3] – and interestingly would receive the award named for Lush 50 years later – see below. [3] Soller also learned much from the writings of Ronald Fisher and Sewall Wright during this time. [1] In 1951 he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture and then in 1956 both a Master's Degree in Applied Statistics and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Animal Breeding from Rutgers University. [2] [3] [1] He would later return to his birth country for further postdoctoral education at Indiana University and Roosevelt University in biochemistry. [2]

Research and teaching career

In 1957 he was hired by the Volcani Center as their senior scientist for animal breeding and by Bar-Ilan University as a senior lecturer of Biology and Genetics. [2] He moved his family to Israel where they have lived most of their lives since. [2] Between 1966 and 1972 Soller was a lecturer at Roosevelt University in the USA. [2] In 1972 he returned to Israel to lecture at the Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the Department of Genetics. [2] He would eventually become a full professor and emeritus professor in 2000. [2] He has since continued actively in lecturing and research including sabbaticals as the Cotswold Visiting Scientist at Iowa State University, at the University of Illinois and elsewhere. [2]

Soller is the originator of quantitative trait locus mapping and marker-assisted selection. [2] [3] He began noticing the statistical patterns and composing the mathematical tools that would be required for these techniques in 1974, while studying crop genetics and livestock genetics. [2] He went on to collaborate with his students and peers to create the F2, [2] backcrossing, [2] full sib, [2] half sib, [2] granddaughter, [2] [3] AIL [2] and selective DNA pooling [2] [3] techniques in QTL mapping. [2] Along with other laboratories around the world, his group developed some of the earliest restriction fragment length polymorphism markers for cattle and microsatellite markers for chickens. [3]

He has especially become known for using these techniques to analyse trypanotolerance in cattle, especially in the N'Dama breed. [2] [1] Soller has also applied QTL analysis to dairy traits and Marek's disease. [2] [1]

Professional recognition

discovery of genetic science" [5] : 119 

Publications

As of 2012 Soller had authored and coauthored over 170 peer reviewed publications, and many book chapters and encyclopedia articles. [2] [3] The organisms he has studied include cattle and chickens, but also extend to plants, viruses, mice, pigs and others. [3]

—Popularly cited including by [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
— An autobiography Soller was invited to write by Annual Reviews

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tsetse fly</span> Genus of disease-spreading insects

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A quantitative trait locus (QTL) is a locus that correlates with variation of a quantitative trait in the phenotype of a population of organisms. QTLs are mapped by identifying which molecular markers correlate with an observed trait. This is often an early step in identifying the actual genes that cause the trait variation.

Jay Laurence Lush was a pioneering animal geneticist who made important contributions to livestock breeding. He is sometimes known as the father of modern scientific animal breeding. Lush received National Medal of Science in 1968 and the Wolf Prize in 1979.

<i>Trypanosoma brucei</i> Species of protozoan parasite

Trypanosoma brucei is a species of parasitic kinetoplastid belonging to the genus Trypanosoma that is present in sub-Saharan Africa. Unlike other protozoan parasites that normally infect blood and tissue cells, it is exclusively extracellular and inhabits the blood plasma and body fluids. It causes deadly vector-borne diseases: African trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness in humans, and animal trypanosomiasis or nagana in cattle and horses. It is a species complex grouped into three subspecies: T. b. brucei, T. b. gambiense and T. b. rhodesiense. The first is a parasite of non-human mammals and causes nagana, while the latter two are zoonotic infecting both humans and animals and cause African trypanosomiasis.

<i>Trypanosoma evansi</i> Contagious protist

Trypanosoma evansi is a parasitic species of excavate trypanosome in the genus Trypanosoma that is one cause of surra in animals. Discovered by Griffith Evans in 1880 at Dera Ismail Khan, it is the first known trypanosome that causes infection. It is a common parasite in India and Iran and causes acute disease in camels and horses, and chronic disease in cattle and buffalo. In Pakistan, it has been found to be the most prevalent trypanosome species in donkeys. It is now established to infect other mammals, including humans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boran cattle</span> Breed of cattle

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Marker assisted selection or marker aided selection (MAS) is an indirect selection process where a trait of interest is selected based on a marker linked to a trait of interest, rather than on the trait itself. This process has been extensively researched and proposed for plant- and animal- breeding.

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<i>Ehrlichia ruminantium</i> Ruminant disease

Heartwater is a tick-borne rickettsial disease. The name is derived from the fact that fluid can collect around the heart or in the lungs of infected animals. It is caused by Ehrlichia ruminantium —an intracellular Gram-negative coccal bacterium. The disease is spread by various Amblyomma ticks, and has a large economic impact on cattle production in affected areas. There are four documented manifestations of the disease, these are acute, peracute, subacute, and a mild form known as heartwater fever. There are reports of zoonotic infections of humans by E. ruminantium, similar to other Ehrlichia species, such as those that cause human ehrlichiosis.

<i>Trypanosoma congolense</i> Protozoan parasite, cause of nagana

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">N'Dama</span> Breed of cattle

N'Dama is a breed of cattle from West Africa. Other names for them include Boenca or Boyenca (Guinea-Bissau), Fouta Jallon, Djallonké or Djallonké cattle, Fouta Longhorn, Fouta Malinke, Futa, Malinke, Mandingo (Liberia), and N'Dama Petite (Senegal). Originating in the Guinea highlands, they are also found in southern Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, the Gambia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. They are trypanotolerant, allowing them to be kept in tsetse fly-infested areas. They also show superior resistance to ticks and the diseases they carry and to Haemonchus contortus stomach worms.

A trypanocidal agent is an antiprotozoal agent that acts upon trypanosome parasites.

<i>Teladorsagia circumcincta</i> Species of roundworm

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Goddard</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Gianola</span> American geneticist

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Glossina fuscipes is a riverine fly species in the genus Glossina, which are commonly known as tsetse flies. Typically found in sub-Saharan Africa but with a small Arabian range, G. fuscipes is a regional vector of African trypanosomiasis, commonly known as sleeping sickness, that causes significant rates of morbidity and mortality among humans and livestock. Consequently, the species is among several being targeted by researchers for population control as a method for controlling the disease.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Lunney</span> Animal researcher

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Soller, Morris (2015-02-16). "If a Bull Were a Cow, How Much Milk Would He Give?". Annual Review of Animal Biosciences . 3 (1). Annual Reviews: 1–17. doi: 10.1146/annurev-animal-022114-110751 . ISSN   2165-8102. PMID   25493539. S2CID   46733451.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 "Soller" (PDF). International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG).
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Khatib, Hasan (2012-06-28). "Foreword". Animal Genetics . 43 (s1). International Foundation for Animal Genetics (Wiley): 1. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2012.02390.x. ISSN   0268-9146. PMID   22742497. S2CID   26400727.
  4. ↑ Womack, James E. (2012). Bovine genomics. Ames, Iowa: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. xi+271. ISBN   978-0-8138-2122-1. OCLC   780445244. ISBN   978-1-118-30173-9.
  5. ↑ Iowa State University (2011). pp. 1–120 https://www.graduation.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/programs/program-s11.pdf.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ "Honorary Members". International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG). Retrieved 2022-02-08.
  7. ↑ van der Waaij, Elisabeth Hillechien. Breeding for trypanotolerance in African cattle (phd). Animal Breeding and Genetics Group Wageningen Institute of Animal Sciences. ISBN   90-5808-458-2. S2CID   80958484.
  8. ↑ Kemp, S.J.; Teale, A.J. (1998). "Genetic Basis of Trypanotolerance in Cattle and Mice". Parasitology Today . 14 (11). Elsevier: 450–454. doi:10.1016/s0169-4758(98)01334-9. ISSN   0169-4758. PMID   17040846. S2CID   3253779.
  9. ↑ Darvasi, Ariel (1998). "Experimental strategies for the genetic dissection of complex traits in animal models". Nature Genetics . 18 (1). Nature Portfolio: 19–24. doi:10.1038/ng0198-19. ISSN   1061-4036. PMID   9425894. S2CID   25815459.
  10. ↑ Naessens, J. (2006). "Bovine trypanotolerance: A natural ability to prevent severe anaemia and haemophagocytic syndrome?". International Journal for Parasitology . 36 (5). Australian Society for Parasitology (Elsevier): 521–528. CiteSeerX   10.1.1.384.4142 . doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2006.02.012. ISSN   0020-7519. PMID   16678182. S2CID   11889368.
  11. ↑ d'Ieteren, G.D.M.; Authie, E.; Wissocq, N.; Murray, M. (1998-04-01). "Trypanotolerance, an option for sustainable livestock production in areas at risk from trypanosomosis". Revue Scientifique et Technique de l'OIE . 17 (1). O.I.E (World Organisation for Animal Health): 154–175. doi: 10.20506/rst.17.1.1088 . ISSN   0253-1933. PMID   9638808. S2CID   1188831.
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