United States-Cattle and humans.

UNITED STATES-CATTLE AND HUMANS.

Domestic cattle share 80-percent of their genes with humans, according to the first mapping of cattle genes.

Scientists involved in the Bovine Genome Sequencing Project found that cattle have about 22-thousand genes.

Researchers say the data is important because further studies could lead to improvements in human health as well as better-tasting beef and dairy products.

With the high ratio of cattle genes similar to those of humans, the scientists said cattle could make better subjects than lab mice or rats for the study of human health.

An article on the research appears in the journal "Genome Biology."