Improvement of livestock has focused on the selective breeding of individuals with superior phenotypes. With the development of increasingly advanced statistical methods that maximise selection for genetic gain, this simple approach has been extremely successful in increasing the quantity of agricultural output. However, information now available on the organisation and functioning of the genome could be used in breeding programmes to improve a range of traits. Many traits are under the control of several genetic loci, each of which contribute to the variation in the trait and hence are called quantitative trait loci (QTL). While genetic markers for QTL that are linked to the trait gene could be used to choose animals for selective breeding programmes, the most effective markers are the functional mutations within the trait genes. Strategies to identify markers for traits and the application of these markers are described by reference to examples of loci that control a range of different traits.
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Diabetol Int
January 2025
Department of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-Ku, Tokyo, 113-8603 Japan.
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a polygenic disease, and the development of animal models by selective breeding is crucial for understanding its etiology, pathophysiology, complications, and treatments. We recently developed a new T2D model, the Oikawa-Nagao (ON) mouse, by selectively breeding mice with inferior glucose tolerance [diabetes-prone (ON mouse DP®; ON-DP) strain] and superior glucose tolerance [diabetes-resistant (ON mouse DR®; ON-DR) strain] on a high-fat diet. ON-DP mice are predisposed to develop diabetes and obesity after being fed a high-fat diet, compared to ON-DR mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Genomics
January 2025
Guangdong Research Center On Reproductive Control and Breeding Technology of Indigenous Valuable Fish Species, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Disease Control and Healthy Culture, Fisheries College, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China.
Background: Spotted scat, a marine aquaculture fish, has variable body color development stages during their ontogenesis. However, the regulatory mechanism of body color patterns formation was poorly understood. Thyroid hormones (TH) function as an important endocrine factor in regulating metamorphosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Anim Ecol
January 2025
Institute of Avian Research, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
Whilst efficient movement through space is thought to increase the fitness of long-distance migrants, evidence that selection acts upon such traits remains elusive. Here, using 228 migratory tracks collected from 102 adult breeding common terns (Sterna hirundo) aged 3-22 years, we find evidence that older terns navigate more efficiently than younger terns and that efficient navigation leads to a reduced migration duration and earlier arrival at the breeding and wintering grounds. We additionally find that the age-specificity of navigational efficiency in adult breeding birds cannot be explained by within-individual change with age (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFReprod Med Biol
January 2025
Laboratory of Animal Breeding and Reproduction, Division of Animal Science, School of Agriculture Utsunomiya University Utsunomiya Tochigi Japan.
Background: In vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer (ET) are widely used in reproductive biology. Despite the transfer of high-quality blastocysts, the implantation rate of IVF-derived blastocysts remains low after ET.
Methods: This article provides a comprehensive review of current research on embryo implantation regulators and their application to improve the implantation potential of IVF-derived blastocysts.
Mol Plant
January 2025
College of Plant Protection, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China. Electronic address:
Plants possess remarkably durable resistance against non-adapted pathogens in nature. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this resistance remain poorly understood, and it is unclear how the resistance is maintained without coevolution between hosts and the non-adapted pathogens. In this study, we used Phytophthora sojae (Ps), a non-adapted pathogen of N.
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