Born 17 April 1938 , Danish citizen
PhD 1968 in Animal Genetics, Royal Vet. & Agric. University Copenhagen
From 1979 Ass. Prof. in Animal Genetics, Royal Vet. & Agric. University Copenhagen
Member of Danish scientific committee for Mink breeding since 1988
Member of Danish scientific committee for Pig genetics since 1996
Research Areas
My research has a background in the subject of my basic training; population and quantitative genetics, including statistics and data analyses. In the late 70's I conducted a project with the goal of including production traits in Danish pig breeding programs. Publications from this project had an impact on later changes within the Danish pig industry's breeding goals. Up to the present time I am still involved in breeding projects with mink and dogs.
In the 80's and 90's I redirected the emphasis of my research towards cytogenetic and DNA technology. I am involved in gene mapping in mink and I also work on investigating the non-disjunction rate in sperm cells by means of probes containing a repetitive sequence that is chromosome specific. The major method is using the FISH technique (Fluorescent In Situ Hybridization).
Publications in chronological order after 1992.
Christensen K, Agerholm JS, Larsen B. Dairy breed bull with complex chromosome translocation. Fertility and linkage studies. Hereditas 117:119-202 (1992).
Thomsen PD, Hindkjær J, Christensen K. Assignment of a porcine male-specific DNA repeat to Y-chromosomal heterochromatin. Cytogenet Cell Genet 61:152-154 (1992).
Christensen K, Fredholm M. Scraped single chromosomes used for DNA amplification. 10th European Colloquium on Cytogenetic of Domestic Animals Utrecht:52-53 (1993).
Fredholm M, Winterø AK, Christensen K, Kristensen B, Nielsen PB, Davies W, Archibald A. Characterization of 24 porcine (dA-dC)n-(dT-dG)n microsatellites. Genotyping of unrelated animals from four different breeds and linkage studies. Mammalian Genome 4:187-192 (1993).
Jensen PO, Larsen JK, Christensen IJ, Christensen K, Pedersen KM, Gustavsson I. Non-disjunction events evaluated by flow cytometry in cattle and swine. 10th European Colloquium on Cytogenetic of Domestic Animals 104-108 (1993).
Agerholm JS, Christensen K. Trisomy 22 in a calf. J Vet Med A 40:576-581 (1993).
Agerholm JS, Basse A, Krogh HV, Christensen K, Rønsholt L. Abortion and calf mortality in Danish cattle herds. Acta Vet Scand 34:371-377 (1993).
Agerholm JS, Basse A, Christensen K. Investigations on the occurrence of hereditary diseases in the Danish cattle population 1989-1991. Acta Vet Scand 34:245-253 (1993).
Stigen Ø, Christensen K. Calcification of Intervertebral discs in the Dachshund. Estimation and heritability. Acta Vet Scand 34:357-361 (1993).
Christensen K, Jensen P, Jørgensen JN. A note on effect of inbreeding on production traits in pigs. Anim Prod 58:298-300 (1994).
Andersen, PH, Bergelin,B, Christensen,K. Effect of feeding regimen on concentration of free endotoxins in ruminal fluid of cattle. J Anim Sci 72:487-491 (1994).
Christensen K, Fredholm M, Winterø AK, Andersen S. Effect of identical homozygosity on growth in pigs. Proceedings of the 5th world congress on genetics applied to livestock production. Guelph 7-12 august (1994), 19:155-158.
Jensen PO, Larsen JK, Christensen IJ, Christensen K, Pedersen KM, Gustavsson I. Non-disjunction events and Y chromosome variation evaluated by flow cytometry of sperm cells from cattle and swine. Proc. 11th European Colloquium on Cytogenetic of Domestic Animals 66-70 (1995).
Malchenko SN, Golvin SY, Matveeva NM, Bleklemisheva VR, Graphodatsky AS, Brusgaard K, Christensen K & Serov OL. The mink growth hormone gene. Characterization of cDNA and subchromosomal localization. Proc. 11th European Colloquium on Cytogenetic of Domestic Animals 140-144 (1995).
Thomsen P, Christensen K,. Karyotype evolution of suidae. Homologies of babirusa chromosomes to pig chromosomes studied by R-banding and by chromosome painting. Proc. 11th European Colloquium on Cytogenetic of Domestic Animals 158-163 (1995).
Lomholt, B., Christensen, K., Hallenberg, C. & Fredriksen, S. 1995. Porcine 5S rRNA genes map to 14q23 revealing syntenic relation to human HSPA6- and 7. Mammalian Genome 6, 439-441.
Yerle, M., Lahbib-Mansais, Y., Mellink, C., Goureau, A., Pinton, P., Echard, G., Gellin, J., Zijlstra, C., Haan, N.D., Bosma, A.A., Chowdhary, B., Feng, G., Gustavsson, I., Thomsen, P.D., Christensen, K., Rettenberger, G. & Hameister, H. 1995. The PiGMaP Consortium cytogenetic map of the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domestica). Mammalian Genome 6, 176-186.
Christensen, K., Fredholm, M., Winterø A.K., Jørgensen, J.N. & Andersen, S. (1996) Joint effect of 21 marker loci and effect of realized inbreeding on growth in pigs. Animal Science, 62, 541-546.
Hyttel, P., Thomsen, P.D. & Christensen, K. (1996) From meiosis to calving - an analysis of the repeat breeder problem in cattle. European A.I.VETS, 8th Meeting, 8, 1-12.
Lomholt, B., Fredriksen, S., Jensen, L.R., Christensen, K. & Hallenberg, C. (1996) 5S rRNA genes in Macaca fascicularis map to chromosome 1p in three loci. Mammalian Genome, 7, 451-453.
Rasmussen, H.B., Christensen, K. & Clausen, J. (1996) Possible association between multiple sclerosis and the human T cell leukemia virus (HTLV)-related endogenous element, HRES-1. Multiple Sclerosis, 2, 133-136.
Rasmussen, H.B., Christensen, K. & Clausen, J. (1996) Sequence and the detection of polymorphism in th 5'end of the human endogenous retro viral element, HRES-1. Disease Markers, 13, 1-9.
Thomsen, P.D., Høyheim, B. & Christensen, K. (1996) Recent fusion events during evolution of pig chromosomes 3 and 6 identified by comparison with babirusa karyotype. Cytogenetic and Cell Genetics, 73, 203-208.
Christensen, K., Brusgaard, K., Malchenko, S., Lohi, O. & Serov, O. (1997) Standardization of the American mink (Mustela vison) karyotype and some cosmid in situ hybridization results. Arch.Zootec, 45, 259-265.
Hameister, H., Klett, C., Bruch, J., Dixkens, C., Vogel, W. & Christensen, K. (1997) Zoo FISH analysis: The American mink (Mustela vison) closely resembles the cat karyotype. Chromosome Research, 5, 5-11.
Christensen, K., Lomholt, B., Hallenberg, C. & Nielsen, K.V. (1998) Mink 5S rRNA genes map to 2q in three loci suggesting syntenic relation to human 1q. Hereditas, 128, 17-20
Christensen, K. (1998) Incidence of disomy in mink sperm estimated by strong centromere repeat probes for the chromosome 2, 5, 8, 9, 11 and Y. Proceedings of the 6th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, 27, 71-74.
Brusgaard, K., Shurki, N., Malchenko, S., Lohi, O., Christensen, K. & Kruse, T.A. (1998) Three polymorphic mink, Mustela vison, dinucleotide repeats. Animal Genetics, 29, 153-153.
Christensen, K. (1998) Online www based Animal Genetics lecture notes with many links and java applets. DEMETER ICT Workshop, KVL, Copenhagen 18-20 june 1998
Brusgaard, K., Malchenko, S., Christensen, K., Lohi, O. & Kruse, T.A. (1998) A polymorphic mink (Mustela vison) dinucleotide repeats. Animal Genetics, 29, 467.
Christensen K., Juul L. (1999). A case of trisomy 22 in a live Hereford calf. Acta vet. Scand 40:85-88.
Jensen V.F., Christensen K. (2000). Inheritance of disc calcification in the Dachshound J.Vet.Med.A 47:331-340
Raudsepp T., Christensen K., Chowdhary B. (2000). Cytogenetics of donkey chromosomes: nomenclature proposals based on GTG-banded chromosomes and depiction of NORs and telomeric sites. Chromosome Research 8:659-670
Iannuzzi L., Di Meo G.P., Leifsson P.S., Eggen A. and Christensen K. (2001). A case of trisomy 28 in cattle revealed by both banding and FISH-mapping techniques. Hereditas 134:147-151.
Nissen P.H., Christensen K., Jørgensen C.B., Jørgensen J.N. and Fredholm M. (2001). A search for association between production traits and marker genotypes on pig chromosome 4 in an inbred family. Acta Agric. Scand. A. 51:161-166.
Lomholt, B., Christensen, K. and Fredriksen, S. (2002) Syrian hamster 5S rRNA genes are assigned to 6q2 with PNA-Fish by an R-banded karyotype. Cytogenet.Cell Genet. 94, 169-172.
Hansen, B.K., Berg, P. and Christensen, K. (2002) Genetics Applied in Danish Fur Production. in DIAS report No 38, Animal Breeding in the 21st Century. 199-212.
Lomholt, B., Christensen, K. and Fredriksen, S. (2002) Guinea pig (Cavio cambayo) 5S rRNA genes map to 7q2, 20q2 and 30q2 shown by an R-banded karyotype with PNA-Fish. Hereditas. 136, 104-107.
Pedersen H.D., Häggestrøm J., Olsen L.H., Christensen K., Selin A., Burmeister M.L., Larsen H.( 2002) Idiopatic asymptomatic trombocytopenia in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels is an autosomal recessive trait. J Vet Intern Med 16, 169-173.
Anistoroaei R., Cirera S., Jørgensen C.B., Fredhol M., Christensen K. (2004). FISH mapping and sequence analysis of 87 porcine BAC clones. Anim Genet. 35, 58-62.
Larsen J. Christensen K., Larsen J., Jensen P., Gustavsson I., Christensen I. (2004). High resolution DNA flow cytometry of boar sperm cells in identification of boars carrying cytogenetic aberrations. Theriogenology, 62, 501-511
K. Christensen, R. Anistoroaei and H. Farid (2004) Hvem er faderen? Tidsskrift for Dansk Pelsdyravl, Maj p51-52.
K. Christensen, R. Anistoroaei and H. Farid (2005) Kortlægning af minkens kromosomer Faglig Årsberetning 2004, Pelsdyrerhvervets Forsøgs- og ForskningsCenter 49-53.
Rude H, Agerholm JS, Maddox-Hyttel P, Christensen K, Flagstad P (2005). Renal lipofuscinosis in Danish slaughter cattle. J Comp Pathol. 132, 303-12.
Anistoroaei,R., Farid,A., Benkel,B., Cirera,S. and Christensen, K. (2006).
Isolation and characterization of 79 microsatellite markers from the American mink (Mustela vison)
Animal Genetics.
Supervision experience with PhD students.
Since 1980 I have had around 25 PhD students having had minor topics in quantitative- and population genetics, cytogeneticics or disease genetics.
Year 1987 PhD Preben Dybdal Thomsen, Thesis: Genkortlægning hos svin; anvendelse af rekombinant DNA-metoder
Year 1991 PhD Peer Berg, Thesis: Progeny testing in mink: Genetic variation within and between populations.
Year 2002 PhD Kristen Sørensen, Thesis: Selection for feed efficiency in mink
(Mustela vison)