Research Interests

• Statistical analysis of quantitative trait loci
• Breeding and genetics of dairy cattle
• Economic aspects of animal breeding
• Statistical methods of genetic evaluation

Recent Publications

Books

• Weller, J. I. (1994) Economic Aspects of Animal Breeding.  Chapman & Hall.  London.  244 pp.
• Weller, J. I. (2001) Quantitative Trait Loci Analysis in Animals. CABI Publishing.  London.  287 pp.
• Weller, J. I. (2009) Quantitative Trait Loci Analysis in Animals, second edition . CABI Publishing.  London.  272 pp.

Book chapters and invited reviews

• Weller, J. I. (1999) Economic evaluation of straight- and cross-breeding programmes. In: Workshop on Developing Breeding Strategies for Lower Input Animal Production Environments. ICAR Technical Series No. 3. Bella, Italy. 243-277.
• Weller, J. I. (1999) Genetic trends for primary and secondary traits in Israeli dairy cattle, theory and results. In: Animal Production: Advances in Technology, Accuracy and Management. Proc. XXXII Intern. Symp. Soc. Ital. Prog. Zootech. Milan, Italy. 67-75.
• Weller, J. I. and Ron, M.  (2000) Estimation and detection of QTL in dairy cattle. XXXVII Reunião Anual Da Sociedade Brasileira De Zootecnia.  Viçosa, MG, Brazil.  (Published on CD).
• Weller, J. I. (2003) Application of modern biotechnology to farm animals. FAO/UNESCO Subregional Workshop, Agricultural Biotechnology and Biosafety for Food Security and Rural Development in the Caucasus Region and Moldova.  K. Nichterlein and S. Ayrapetyan (Eds.).  Yerevan, Armenia. 64-67.
• Weller, J. I. (2006) Lessons for aquaculture breeding from livestock.  Israel J. Aquaculture Bamidgeh 8; 257-265.
• Weller, J. I. (2007) Current and future developments in patents for quantitative trait loci in dairy cattle.  Recent Patents on DNA & Gene Sequences 1; 69-76.
• Weller, J. I. (2007) Marker assisted selection in dairy cattle. In:  Marker-Assisted Selection, Current status and future perspectives in crops,        livestock, forestry and fish.  E. Guimarães, J. Ruane, B. D. Scherf, A. Sonnino, J. D. Dargie (Eds.) Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.  Rome, Italy. pp 199-228.
• Weller, J. I. (2010)  Whole genome marker assisted selection.  CAB Reviews (In press).

Articles in reviewed journals

• Israel, C. and Weller, J. I. (1998) Estimation of candidate gene effects in dairy cattle populations. J. Dairy Sci. 81; 1653-1662.
• · Ronin, Y. I., Korol, A. B., and Weller, J. I. (1998) Selective genotyping to detect quantitative trait loci affecting multiple traits: interval mapping analysis. Theor. Appl. Genet. 97: 1169-1178.
• Samina, I., Zakay-Rones, Z., Weller, J. I., and Peleg, B.-A. (1998) Host factors affecting the homologous and heterologous immune response of cattle to FMDV: genetic background, age, virus strains and route of administration. Vaccine 16; 335-339.
• Weller, J. I., Song, J. Z., Heyen, D. W., Lewin, H. A., and Ron, M. (1998) A new approach to the problem of multiple comparisons in the genetic dissection of complex traits. Genetics 150; 1699-1706
• Da, Y., VanRaden, P. M., Ron, M., Beever, J. M., Paszek, A. A., Song, J. Wiggans, G. R., Ma, R. Weller, J. I., and Lewin, H. A. (1999) Standardization and conversion of marker polymorphism measures. Anim. Biotechnol. 10; 25-35.
• Heyen, D. W., Weller, J. I., Ron, M., Band, M., Beever, J. E. Feldmesser, E., Da, Y., Wiggans, G. R., VanRaden, P. M., and Lewin, H. A. (1999) A genome scan for QTL influencing milk production and health traits in dairy cattle. Physiol. Genom. 1; 165-175.
• Lagziel, A., Lipkin, E., Ezra, E., Soller, M., and Weller, J. I. (1999) An Msp I polymorphism at the bovine growth hormone (bGH) is linked to a locus affecting milk protein percent. Anim. Genet. 39; 296-299.
• Settar, P., and Weller, J. I. (1999) Genetic analysis of cow survival in the Israeli dairy cattle population. J. Dairy Sci. 82; 2170-2177.
• Israel, C. and Weller, J. I. (2000) Effect of misidentification on genetic gain and estimation of breeding value in dairy cattle populations. J. Dairy Sci. 83; 181-187.
• Braunschweig, M. H., Paszek, A. A., Weller, J. I., Da, Y., Hawken, R. J., Wheeler, M. B., Schook, L. B., and Alexander, L. J. (2001) Generation and exploration of a dense genetic map in a region of a QTL affecting corpora lutea in a Meishan × Yorkshire cross. Mammal. Genome (In press).
• Ron, M., Kliger, D., Feldmesser, E., Seroussi, E. Ezra, E., and Weller, J. I. (2001) Multiple QTL Analysis of Bovine Chromosome 6 in the Israeli Holstein Population by a Daughter Design. Genetics (In press).
• Israel, C. and Weller, J. I. (2002)  Estimation of quantitative trait loci effects in dairy cattle populations. J. Dairy Sci.  85; 1285-1297.
• Weller, J. I., Weller, H., Kliger, D., and Ron, M. (2002)  Estimation of quantitative trait locus allele frequency via a modified granddaughter design.  Genetics 162; 841-849.
• Cnaani, A., Hallerman, E. M., Ron, M., Weller, J. I., Indelman, M., Kashi, Y., Gall, G. A. E., and Hulata, G. (2003)  Detection of a chromosomal region with two quantitative trait loci, affecting cold tolerance and fish size, in an F₂ tilapia hybrid. Aquaculture 223; 117-128.
• Ron, M., Domochovsky, R., Golik, M., Seroussi, E., Ezra, E., Shturman, C., and Weller, J. I. (2003) Analysis of vaginal swabs for paternity testing and marker-assisted selection in cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 86; 1818-1820.
• Weller, J. I., Golik, M., Seroussi, E., Ezra, E., and Ron, M.  (2003)  Population-wide analysis of a QTL affecting milk-fat production in the Israeli Holstein population.  J. Dairy Sci. 86; 2219-2227
• Ashwell, M. S., Heyen, D. W., Sonstegard, T. S., Van Tassell, C. P., Da, Y., VanRaden, P. M., Ron, M., Weller, J. I., and Lewin, H. A. (2004) Detection of quantitative trait loci affecting female fertility and milk production in ten Dairy Bull DNA Repository families. J. Dairy Sci. 87; 468-475.
• Cohen, M., Reichenstein, M., Everts-van der Wind, A., Heon-Lee, J., Shani, M., Lewin, H. A., Weller, J. I., Ron, M., and Seroussi, E. (2004) Cloning and characterization of FAM13A1- a gene near a milk protein QTL on BTA6: evidence for population-wide linkage-disequilibrium in Israeli Holsteins. Genomics 84; 374-383.
• Israel, C. and Weller, J. I. (2004)  Effect of type I error threshold on marker-assisted selection in dairy cattle.  Livest. Prod. Sci. 85; 189-199.
• Ron, M., Feldmesser, E., Golik, M., Tager-Cohen, I., Kliger, D., Reiss, V., Domochovsky, R., Alus, O., Seroussi, E., Ezra, E., and Weller, J. I. (2004) A complete genome scan of the Israeli Holstein population for quantitative trait loci by a daughter design. J. Dairy Sci. 87; 476-490.
• Weller, J. I. and Ezra, E.  (2004 Genetic analysis of the Israeli Holstein dairy cattle population for production and non-production traits with a multitrait animal model. J. Dairy Sci. 87; 1519-1527.
• Weller, J. I. and Soller, M. (2004)  An analytical formula to estimate confidence interval of QTL location with a saturated genetic map as a function of experimental design.  Theor. Appl. Genet. 109; 1224-1229.
• Weller, J. I., Feldmesser, E., Golik, M., Tager-Cohen, I., Domochovsky, R., Alus, O., Ezra, E., and Ron, M. (2004)  Factors affecting incorrect paternity assignment in the Israeli Holstein population.  J. Dairy Sci. 87; 2627-2640.
• Ron, M., Tager-Cohen, I., Feldmesser, E., Ezra, E. Kalay, D. Roe, B. Seroussi, E., and Weller, J. I. (2004)  Bovine umbilical hernia maps to the centromeric end of Bos taurus autosome 8.  Anim. Genet. 35; 431-437.
• Ashwell, M. S., Heyen, D. W., Weller, J. I., Ron, M., Sonstegard, T. S., Van Tassell, C. P., and Lewin H. A. (2005) Detection of quantitative trait loci influencing conformation traits and calving ease in Holstein-Friesian cattle.  J. Dairy Sci. 88; 4111-4119.
• Cohen-Zinder, M., Seroussi, E., Larkin, D. M., Loor, J. J., Everts-van der Wind, A., Lee, J. H., Drackley, J. K., Band, M. R., Hernandez, A. G., Shani, M., Lewin, H. A., Weller, J. I., and Ron, M. (2005). Identification of a missense mutation in the bovine ABCG2 gene with a major effect on the QTL on chromosome 6 affecting milk yield and composition in Holstein cattle. Genome Research 15; 936-944.
• Weller, J. I., Shlezinger, M., and Ron, M. (2005) Correcting for bias in estimation of quantitative trait loci effects.  Genet. Sel. Evol. 37; 501-522.
• Zaslaver, M., Offer, S., Kerem, Z., Stark, A. H., Weller, J. I., Eliraz, A., and Madar, Z. (2005)  Natural compounds derived from foods modulate nitric oxide production and oxidative status in epithelial lung cells. J. Agr. Food Chem. 53; 9934-9939.
• Baruch, E., Weller, J. I., Cohen-Zinder, M., Ron, M., and Seroussi, E. (2006) Efficient inference of haplotypes from genotypes on a large animal pedigree. Genetics 172; 1757-1765.
• Golik, M., Cohen-Zinder, M., Loor, J. J., Drackley, J. K., Band, M. R., Lewin, H. A., Weller, J. I., Ron, M., and Seroussi, E. (2006). Accelerated expansion of group IID like phospholipase A2 genes in Bos taurus. Genomics 87; 527-533.
• Ron, M., Cohen-Zinder, M., Peter, C., Weller, J. I., and Erhardt, G. (2006) ABCG2 polymorphism in Bos indicus and Bos taurus cattle breeds. J. Dairy Sci. 89; 4921-4923.
• Weller, J. I., Ezra, E., and Leitner G. (2006)  Genetic analysis of persistency in the Israeli Holstein population by the multitrait animal model. J. Dairy Sci. 89; 2738-2746.
• Weller, J. I., Seroussi, E. and Ron, M. (2006) Estimation of the number of genetic markers required for individual animal identification accounting for genotyping error s. Anim. Genet. 37; 387-389.
• Ron, M. and Weller, J. I. (2007)From QTL to QTN identification in livestock - "Winning by points rather than knock-out": a review. Anim. Genet. 38; 429-439.
• Ron, M., Israeli, G., Seroussi, E., Weller, J. I., Gregg, J. P., Shani, M. and Medrano, J. F. (2007) Combining mouse mammary gland gene expression and comparative mapping for the identification of candidate genes for QTL of milk production traits in cattle. BMC Genomics 8; 183.
• Baruch E. and Weller, J. I. (2008) Estimation of the number of SNP genetic markers required for parentage verification. Anim. Genet. 39: 474-479.
• Baruch E. and Weller, J. I. (2008)  Incorporation of discrete genotype effects for multiple genes into animal model evaluations when only a small fraction of the population has been genotyped. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 4365-4371.
• Weller, J. I. and Ezra, E. (2008) Genetic analysis of growth rate of Israeli Holstein calves. Animal 2: 1717-1723.
• Weller, J. I., Golik, M., Reikhav, S., Domochovsky, R., Seroussi, E., and Ron, M. (2008) Detection and analysis of QTL affecting production and secondary traits on chromosome 7 in Israeli Holsteins. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 802-813.
• Weller, J. I., Golik, M., Seroussi, E., Ron, M., and Ezra, E. (2008) Detection of quantitative trait loci affecting twinning rate in Israeli Holsteins by the daughter design. J. Dairy Sci. 91: 2469-2474.
• Baruch, E. and Weller, J. I. (2009) Incorporation of genotype effects into animal model evaluations when only a small fraction of the population has been genotyped. Animal 3: 16-23.
• Karniol, B., Shirak, A., Baruch, E., Singrün, C., Tal, A. Cahana, A., Kam, M., Skalski, Y., Brem, G., Weller, J. I., Ron, M., and Seroussi, E. (2009)Development of a 25-plex SNP assay for traceability in cattle. Anim. Genet. 90: 353-356.
• Weller J. I., Glick, G., Ezra, E., Zeron, Y., Seroussi, E., and Ron, M.  (2010) Paternity validation and estimation of genotyping error rate for the BovineSNP50 BeadChip.  Anim. Genet. 91 (In press). 

Patents

• Seroussi, E., Lewin, H. A., Band, M. R., Cohen-Zinder, M., Drackley, J. A., Loor, J. J, Ron, M., Shani, M. and Weller, J. I. (2006) Bovine ABCG2 gene missense mutations and uses thereof.  PCT/US2006/025117.
• Seroussi, E., Shiraq, A., Weller, J. I., and Ron, M. (2007) DNA traceability system in cattle, long-term DNA banking and genotyping by multiplexing of SNP markers. Provisional US Patent Appl. #182154.
  

Current Projects 

• 2006-2010 European Community Sixth Framework Programme Priority 5 Food Quality and Safety.  Project No.  PL 01625-2-SABRE (364-203).  Title:  Genomics and epigenetics to develop sustainable animal breeding strategies for improved long-term product quality and safety.  Cooperative Investigator (Head of ARO group), for 4 years.  Budget:  €13,899,794; €444,000 for J. I. Weller, M. Ron, and E. Seroussi. 
• 2006-2009 Israel Milk Marketing Board, Project N. 364-206.  Title: Development of a program to estimate inbreeding in the Israeli dairy cattle population.  Principle Investigator, for 3 years.  Budget: $21,500 per year.
• 2007-2010 Israel Milk Marketing Board, Project N. 362-151.  Title:  Development of a program for genetic evaluation of calf weight in the Israeli dairy cattle population.  Principle Investigator, for 3 years.  Budget: $22,000 per year.