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Submitted to: Proceedings of Iberoamerican Congress of Native and Creole Breeds
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 10/1/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The objective of this review is to briefly describe some of the most common tools in molecular genetics, their potential use, and benefits in animal conservation programs. Linkage maps have been developed for livestock species and they are currently used to identify genetic differences among breeds. Sequences of genes from human and mouse will also be useful to identify diversity among livestock breeds, making use of comparative maps and expressed sequence tags. New technology is being generated with the potential future use of identifying differences in gene sequence throughout the genome by the use of microchips. The use of this technology will enable the search for genomic differences that give local genetic resources their identity. Technical Abstract: Recent advances in molecular genetics will contribute to conservation of genetic resources. Linkage maps have been developed for several livestock species, including cattle and swine. These maps allow the identification of chromosomal regions associated with production traits. This information is used in the search for genes responsible for the expression of traits. Potential candidate genes can be selected based on information from comparative maps. A wealth of information will be available from the human and mouse genome projects to identify genes influencing economically important traits. New technology will allow the search for differences in genes sequences on nonelectrophoresis-based chips, allowing a search of thousands of genes at a time. Using this technology, it will be possible to search for chromosomal regions and differences in gene sequences that have given local genetic resources their identity. It will be necessary to omaintain, study and classify these resources on a molecular basis to accomplish the goal of conservation program. |
