Identifying functional gene variants and non-additive effects to enhance the power of genomic selection of purebred pigs for crossbred performance

基因改良瘦肉产量和猪肉品质是加拿大养猪业提高全球竞争力和整体盈利能力的关键途径。基因组增强估计育种价值（GEBVs）是基于DNA标记基因型和效应。gebv用于提高生产性状的遗传改良速度，特别是那些难以和/或昂贵测量的性状，如胴体产量和猪肉质量。该项目的总体目标是通过整合功能基因变异和更好地估计整体遗传效应（可加性和非可加性元素），通过生成和使用全基因组序列信息和低密度SNP面板来提高这些性状的gebv。这项工作，与一家主要的加拿大和国际养猪公司合作，将开发先进的知识和技术，这将有利于学术界和工业界的合作伙伴。通过这个项目，降低基因分型成本（由于代入）和增强基因组预测能力将显著增加基因组技术在加拿大养猪业的应用。新的基因组工具和技术（例如序列输入，配种分配）的提供，以及经验丰富的遗传学家将改善加拿大猪的育种和选择计划。此外，还将产生和共享大量的基因组数据资源，为未来的猪基因组研究提供有价值的信息。功能性基因变异的知识也将导致对影响猪肉产量和质量的基因组结构和潜在生物学的新见解，并最终提高养猪业的经济效益回报。

Genetically improving lean meat yield and pork quality is a key approach for the Canadian swine industry to enhance global competitiveness and overall profitability. Genomically enhanced estimated breeding values (GEBVs) are based on DNA marker genotypes and effects. GEBVs are used to increase the rate of genetic improvement for production traits, particularly for those that are difficult and/or expensive to measure, such as carcass yield and pork quality. The overall goal of this project is to improve the GEBVs for these traits through the integration of functional gene variants and better estimates of the overall genetic effect (additive and non-additive elements) by generating and using whole genomic sequence information and low density SNP panels. This work, a collaboration with a major Canadian and international pig breeding company will develop advanced knowledge and technology, which will benefit both the academic and industry partners. With this project, reduced genotyping cost (due to imputation) and enhanced power of genome prediction will significantly increase the adoption of genomic technologies in the Canadian swine industry. The delivery of novel genomic tools and techniques (e.g. sequence imputation, mating allocation), and experienced geneticists will improve Canadian pig breeding and selection programs . In addition, a large set of genomic data resources will be generated and shared, which represent valuable information for future genomic research in pigs. Knowledge of functional gene variants will also lead to new insights for the genomic architecture and underlying biology impacting pork yield and quality, and ultimately result in increased returns to the economic benefit of the swine industry.