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ARS Home » Plains Area » Clay Center, Nebraska » U.S. Meat Animal Research Center » Genetics and Animal Breeding » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #315898
Title: Historical overview and current status of genomic technology and marker assisted selection in beef cattle

Author
item Pollak, Emil
item Smith, Timothy - Tim
item Snelling, Warren

Submitted to: American Meat Science Association Conference Reciprocal Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/9/2015
Publication Date: 6/17/2015
Citation: Pollak, E.J., Smith, T.P., Snelling, W.M. 2015. Historical overview and current status of genomic technology and marker assisted selection in beef cattle. In Proceedings of the American Meat Science Association. 68th Annual Reciprocal Meat Conference, June 14 - 17, 2015, Lincoln, NE. pg. 32-36.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Genomic technology has long been viewed as a transformative technology in that it has the potential to greatly alter strategies for livestock selection and management. Effective selection requires accurate predictions of genetic merit. Traditional genetic evaluations are obtained from data and pedigree information. In contrast, genomic predictions of genetic merit are based on associations, derived in "discovery" populations, of genetic markers with data on genotyped animals in that population. Data used in discovery populations can be phenotypic information on individual animals, genetic evaluations on well proven animals, or contrasts between large pools of animals with divergent phenotypes. Once these genomic prediction equations are obtained, they can be used to predict the genetic merit of other animals genotyped for those markers. This presentation will examine the evolution in genomic technology, how the application of that technology has developed over time, and current research related to enhancing the impact of the technology. The focus will be on complex traits, while fully recognizing the power of the technology to protect industries from propagating deleterious or undesirable variants. The beef industry is used as the example to chronicle the history of the application of genomic technology.