Advanced technologies for genomic analysis in farm animals and its application for QTL mapping.

Rapid progress in farm animal breeding has been made in the last few decades. Advanced technologies for genomic analysis in molecular genetics have led to the identification of genes or markers associated with genes that affect economic traits. Molecular markers, large-insert libraries and RH panels have been used to build the genetic linkage maps, physical maps and comparative maps in different farm animals. Moreover, EST sequencing, genome sequencing and SNPs maps are helping us to understand how genomes function in various organisms and further areas will be studied by DNA microarray technologies and proteomics methods. Because most economically important traits in farm animals are controlled by multiple genes and the environment, the main goal of genome research in farm animals is to map and characterize genes determining QTL. There are two main strategies to identify trait loci, candidate gene association tests and genome scan approaches. In recent years, some new concepts, such as RNAi, miRNA and eQTL, have been introduced into farm animal research, especially for QTL mapping and finding QTN. Several genes that influence important traits have already been identified or are close to being identified, and some of them have been applied in farm animal breeding programs by marker-assisted selection.