A multi-trait Bayesian method for mapping QTL and genomic prediction.

Background: Genomic prediction and quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping typically analyze one trait at a time but this may ignore the possibility that one polymorphism affects multiple traits. The aim of this study was to develop a multivariate Bayesian approach that could be used for simultaneously elucidating genetic architecture, QTL mapping, and genomic prediction. Our approach uses information from multiple traits to divide markers into 'unassociated' (no association with any trait) and 'associated' (associated with one or more traits).

Improved precision of QTL mapping using a nonlinear Bayesian method in a multi-breed population leads to greater accuracy of across-breed genomic predictions.

Background: Genomic selection is increasingly widely practised, particularly in dairy cattle. However, the accuracy of current predictions using GBLUP (genomic best linear unbiased prediction) decays rapidly across generations, and also as selection candidates become less related to the reference population. This is likely caused by the effects of causative mutations being dispersed across many SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) that span large genomic intervals.

Genome position specific priors for genomic prediction.

Background: The accuracy of genomic prediction is highly dependent on the size of the reference population. For small populations, including information from other populations could improve this accuracy. The usual strategy is to pool data from different populations; however, this has not proven as successful as hoped for with distantly related breeds.

Sensitivity of genomic selection to using different prior distributions.

Unlabelled: Genomic selection describes a selection strategy based on genomic estimated breeding values (GEBV) predicted from dense genetic markers such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. Different Bayesian models have been suggested to derive the prediction equation, with the main difference centred around the specification of the prior distributions.

Methods: The simulated dataset of the 13(th) QTL-MAS workshop was analysed using four Bayesian approaches to predict GEBV for animals without phenotypic information.

Accuracy of genomic selection using stochastic search variable selection in Australian Holstein Friesian dairy cattle.

Genomic selection describes a selection strategy based on genomic breeding values predicted from dense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. Multiple methods have been proposed but the critical issue is how to decide whether an SNP should be included in the predictive set to estimate breeding values. One major disadvantage of the traditional Bayes B approach is its high computational demands caused by the changing dimensionality of the models.