Complex vertebral malformation (CVM) is an autosomal recessively inherited disorder in Holstein cattle worldwide, which usually onsets during fetal development, leading to frequent abortion of fetuses or perinatal death, and vertebral anomalies. Disease symptoms have not been observed in carriers of CVM. Detailed clinical characterization of CVM demonstrated a composite phenotype with axial skeletal deformities such as hemivertebrae, misshaped vertebrae, ankylosis of mainly the cervico-thoracic vertebrae, scoliosis, and symmetric arthrogryposis of the lower limb joints, craniofacial dysmorphism, as well as cardiac anomalies (Agerholm et al. 2004a, 2004b; Nielsen et al. 2003). The syndrome was first discovered in the Danish Holstein population in 1999 (Agerholm et al. 2001), but shortly thereafter reported in the United States (Duncan et al. 2001, Holstein Association, USA, 2004), the United Kingdom (Revell 2001), the Netherlands (Wouda et al. 2000), and in Japan (Nagahata et al. 2002), Germany (Konersmann et al. 2003), Sweden (Berglund et al. 2004), Denmark (Thomsen et al. 2006), India (Mahdipour et al. 2010). The percentage of CVM carrier reported worldwide is very high as indicated in the table. 1351665777.php