Now a days, an important and interesting alternative in the control of tick-infestation in cattle is to select resistant animals, and identify the respective quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and DNA markers, for posterior use in breeding programs. The number of ticks/animal is characterized as a discrete-counting trait, which could potentially follow Poisson distribution. However, in the case of an excess of zeros, due to the occurrence of several noninfected animals, zero-inflated Poisson and generalized zero-inflated distribution (GZIP) may provide a better description of the data. Thus, the objective here was to compare through simulation, Poisson and ZIP models (simple and generalized) with classical approaches, for QTL mapping with counting phenotypes under different scenarios, and to apply these approaches to a QTL study of tick resistance in an F2 cattle (Gyr × Holstein) population. It was concluded that, when working with zero-inflated data, it is recommendable to use the generalized and simple ZIP model for analysis. On the other hand, when working with data with zeros, but not zero-inflated, the Poisson model or a data-transformation-approach, such as square-root or Box-Cox transformation, are applicable.

The GTG-banding and 5-BrdU incorporation patterns of the late-replicating X-chromosome were studied in female dogs and cattle, and compared to human female patterns. The replication patterns of the short arm of the X-chromosomes did not show any difference between human, dog and cattle females. As to the long arm, some bands showed differences among the three studied species regarding the replication kinetics pattern. These differences were observed in a restricted region of the X-chromosome, delimited by Xq11 → q25 in humans, by Xq1 → q8 in dogs, and by Xq12 → q32 in cattle. In an attempt to find out if these differences in the replication kinetics could be a reflection of differences in the localization of genes in that region of the X-chromosome, we used the probe for the human androgen receptor gene (AR) localized at Xq12, which is in the region where we observed differences among the three studied species. We did not, however, observe hybridization signals. Our study goes on, using other human probes for genes located in the region Xq11 → Xq25.