Genomic Tools for Effective Conservation of Livestock Breed Diversity
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Departamento de Producción Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
2
VELOGEN.SL. Servicio de Genética. Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Complutense, Avenida Puerta de Hierro, s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
3
Departamento de Genética, Edificio Gregor Mendel, Campus de Rabanales, Universidad de Córdoba, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Diversity 2020, 12(1), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/d12010008
Received: 4 November 2019 / Revised: 13 December 2019 / Accepted: 17 December 2019 / Published: 20 December 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Conservation of Rare Breeds of Livestock)
Human concern about the status of genetic diversity in livestock breeds and their conservation has increased, as intense selection and reduced population sizes in many breeds has caused losses on the global livestock genetic biodiversity. Traditionally, pedigree data provided by the breeders were used to estimate genetic diversity parameters, but over the past decades, technology has made possible the development of genomic markers. The result has been new opportunities to estimate genetic diversity in more detail, and to improve selection as well as prioritizing animals for conservation of genetic resources. The aim of the review is to summarize the evolution of livestock genomic markers and to explore the potential of the newest high-throughput technologies for estimation and conservation of livestock genetic diversity. More accurate diversity parameters are observed when genomic information is used for selection decisions instead of the traditional estimates using pedigree data. It is also possible to estimate additional parameters such as linkage disequilibrium to calculate effective population size or to minimize the genetic relatedness among the selected individuals based on runs of homozygosity. For long-term perspectives, new methods on genome editing are considered as new perspectives to reach a genetic diversity balance.
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Keywords:
livestock breeds; genomics; conservation; animal genetic resources
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MDPI and ACS Style
Eusebi, P.G.; Martinez, A.; Cortes, O. Genomic Tools for Effective Conservation of Livestock Breed Diversity. Diversity 2020, 12, 8.
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