** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** RATIONALE: A MAJOR GAP IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF GENETICS IS THAT WE LARGELY DO NOT KNOW THE FUNCTION OF DNA OUTSIDE OF GENES, WHICH COMPRISES &GT;90% OF ANIMAL GENOMES. AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THESE GENE DEVOID REGIONS ARE DNA REGULATORY REGIONS. STUDIES IN HUMANS, AND RODENTS INDICATE THAT DNA REGULATORY REGIONS GOVERN HOW GENES ARE TURNED ON AND OFF, WHICH CONTROLS IMPORTANT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES THAT MEDIATE CHANGES IN PHYSIOLOGY ACROSS DIFFERENT STAGES OF LIFE IN AN ORGANISM AND DIFFERENTIATE ONE TISSUE/CELL TYPE FROM ANOTHER. CHANGES IN THE DNA SEQUENCE IN A LIMITED NUMBER OF KNOWN DNA REGULATORY REGIONS IN LIVESTOCK HAVE ALSO BEEN IDENTIFIED AS THE CAUSATIVE HERITABLE FACTORS (I.E., CAUSAL MUTATIONS) THAT ALTER THE APPEARANCE OR PERFORMANCE (I.E., PHENOTYPE) OF ANIMALS.OVERARCHING HYPOTHESIS: THUS, IDENTIFYING DNA REGULATORY REGIONS AND DEVELOPMENT OF TOOLS TO ROUTINELY IDENTIFY AND UTILIZE INFORMATION ABOUT THESE REGULATORY REGIONS IS EXPECTED TO ACCELERATE THE SPEED OF GENETIC IMPROVEMENT THROUGH BREEDING, AND FACILITATE NEW RESEARCH DISCOVERIES ABOUT HOW GENES FUNCTION IN A WIDE RANGE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES ACROSS THE ANIMAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES.THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY INCLUDE: 1) IDENTIFYING THE LOCATION OF DNA REGULATORY ELEMENTS IN LIVESTOCK SPECIES; 2) DEVELOPMENT OF SOFTWARE TO CATALOGUE, DISSEMINATE, AND INTEGRATE DNA REGULATORY ELEMENTS WITH EXISTING GENOME INFORMATION ACROSS LIVESTOCK GENOMES TO LINK GENOME SEQUENCE TO PHENOTYPES; 3) DETERMINE IF GENETIC VARIATION (E.G., SNPS: SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISMS) WITHING DNA REGULATORY REGIONS ARE USEFUL TO IMPROVE GENOMIC BREEDING METHODS; AND 4) PROVIDE TRAINING AND SUPPORT TO FACILITATE RE-USE OF THE PREDICTED DNA REGULATORY REGIONS USING THE DEVELOPED SOFTWARE TOOLS.EXPECTED RESULTS FROM THIS PROJECT INCLUDE: THE IDENTIFICATION OF PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN DNA REGULATORY REGIONS, POSSIBLE CAUSATIVE MUTATIONS IMPACTING VARIATION IN PHENOTYPES, AND SOFTWARE AND TRAINING TO HELP SCIENTISTS UTILIZE THESE TOOLS.IMPACT: INFORMATION AND TOOLS GENERATED IN THIS PROJECT WILL HELP ACCELERATING GENETIC IMPROVEMENT AND PROVIDE NEW INFORMATION ABOUT GENE FUNCTION WHICH WILL HELP RESEARCHERS MAKE DISCOVERIES LINKING THE FUNCTION OF GENES TO PHENOTYPE ACROSS A BROAD RANGE OF BIOLOGICAL DISCIPLINES.