Work Package 10: Demonstration

Rationale: Whilst this Integrated Project is essentially fundamental in nature, it is our intention to demonstrate clearly how the knowledge we derive can be taken into commercial practice for the benefit of consumers, animals, the environment and industry. Throughout the project we will ensure close dialogue with end-users of the technology.

We intend to demonstrate the potential of genomic selection arising from the prototype technology of dense SNP genotyping. Biochemical engineering has made advances in throughput, genotypes per unit DNA and cost per genotype using such markers, and the publication of the sequence of the bovine genome will make the development of the density of SNP maps required for genomic evaluation a reality. The potential for genome-based selection is great in dairy cattle, where the genomic tools are well developed and the ratio of costs to benefits is favourable. Nevertheless practical implementation will face technical, organisational and other hurdles, which are identified here and resolved.

We will demonstrate:

(i) the effectiveness of strategies for developing dense SNP maps;

(ii) the informativeness of these maps in commercial populations as a function of SNP density and chromosome;

(iii) the concept of using SNPs, specifically the haplotypes developed from them, as an evaluation method;

(iv) the partitioning of variation among chromosomes;

(v) the differences between genomic evaluation and QTL mapping approach.

In summary, the ultimate goal of genomics in breeding is to predict function and performance in individuals from molecular genetic tools and the demonstration aims at showing how far we have progressed towards achieving this ultimate goal.

A specific part of the workpackages on Numerical Genomics (WP1) and Genomics and Bioinformatics (WP3) will be the integration of new molecular and quantitative results into advice on sustainable breeding strategies relevant to breeders. The necessary work to make this advice more relevant and demonstrate its value includes the determination of allele frequencies for new DNA diagnostics determined within the study, and the association between these alleles and traits in diverse genetic backgrounds (G x G) and production systems (G x E).

Objectives

·       Demonstrate genomic selection in action in two dairy cattle populations

·       Determine frequencies of relevant new alleles in a range of species and breeds

·       Provide advice to industry on sustainable breeding strategies

WP leader: Professor Theo Meuwissen (Norwegian University of Life Sciences)

Partners involved:

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NULS)

The Roslin Institute and R(D)SVS, University of Edinburgh

BioBest ltd

University of Copenhagen Faculty of Life Sciences

Cogent Breeding Ltd