Bilateral convergent strabismus with exophthalmus (BCSE) in cattle: an overview of clinical signs and genetic traits

Bilateral convergent strabismus with exophthalmus (BCSE) is a heritable eye defect prevalent in many cattle breeds and known worldwide. BCSE shows a progressive course often terminating in complete blindness. The onset of the defect can sometimes be slowly progressing (late in life) and, as the first signs of the defect are frequently not noticed prior to first breeding, prevention cannot be achieved only by exclusion of affected animals from the breeding program. This paper provides an overview of the clinical signs, histopathology and genetics of BCSE, its distribution in different cattle breeds and analyses the association between milk production traits and US Brown Swiss. There were different modes of inheritance proposed for BCSE, but although an autosomal dominant major gene is considered most likely in German Brown cattle, an association with milk production traits could not be found. Comparative molecular genetic approaches could help to characterize the responsible genes for this ocular disease in cattle.