Whole genome association analysis for pork quality in both cross- and pure-bred populations.

了解人类疾病中复杂性状变异的基因是生物学研究中最令人兴奋的领域之一。这个领域被称为基因组学。基因组学技术也为动物育种者提供了巨大的机会，因为它可以提供新的工具，可以用来轻松准确地选择动物的肉质和动物健康等性状。这些性状难以测量或测量成本高，或者需要间接解决-例如，肉质只能在死后确定，以便对潜在育种动物的亲属进行测量。猪的基因组正在被测序，这项工作将产生大量的DNA标记（如单核苷酸多态性-SNP），可用于找到解释这些性状变异的基因。这个过程使用了成千上万的DNA标记，被称为全基因组关联分析。它导致DNA标记的鉴定，可用作诊断工具，以帮助估计动物的这些重要性状的育种价值，并在动物生命的早期进行。这些工具提高了目标性状的准确性和改进速度，以便能够生产出更好地满足消费者不断变化的需求的猪肉。该项目由阿尔伯塔大学和两家养猪公司（Genesus和Hypor）合作，将收集大量用于猪肉生产的商业杂交猪以及用于生产它们的纯系（相当于品种）的测量结果。收集到的样本和数据将使该小组能够在基因组测序产生的新DNA工具开发出来后立即加以利用。将产生的丰富数据集和结果将提供新的工具，帮助开发更好的猪肉产品，并为开发新的养猪方法创造新的机会。该团队正在寻求应用人类生物学中开发的最新方法，以创造提高加拿大猪育种和生产部门竞争力的新方法。如果加拿大要保持在选择、生产和出口健康猪和猪肉方面的世界领先地位，这种做法至关重要。

Understanding the genes involved in variation in complex traits in human diseases is one of the most exciting areas of biological research. This area is termed genomics. Genomics technology also offers tremendous opportunities for animal breeders, as it can provide new tools that can be used to easily and accurately select animals for traits such as meat quality and animal health. These traits are difficult or expensive to measure, or need to be addressed indirectly - for example, meat quality can only be determined post mortem so that measurements are made on relatives of potential breeding animals. The pig genome is now being sequenced and this exercise will generate large numbers of DNA markers (e.g. single nucleotide polymorphisms - SNPs) that can be used to find the genes that explain variation in such traits. This process, using tens of thousands of DNA markers, is known as whole genome association analysis. It results in the identification of DNA markers that can be used as diagnostic tools to help estimate the breeding value of an animal for these important traits and to do this early in the life of an animal. These tools increase the accuracy and rate of improvement for the traits of interest so as to be able to produce pork that better meets the changing demands of consumers. This project, a partnership between the University of Alberta and two pig breeding companies (Genesus and Hypor) will collect large numbers of measurements on commercial crossbred pigs used for pork production as well as the pure lines (equivalent to breeds) used to produce them. The samples and data collected will enable the team to make use of the new DNA tools now being generated by genome sequencing as soon as they are developed. The rich dataset and results that will be generated will provide new tools to help develop better pork products and create new opportunities to develop novel approaches for pig breeding. This team is seeking to apply the latest methods developed in human biology to create new ways of improving the competitiveness of the Canadian pig breeding and production sectors. This approach is essential if Canada is to remain one of the world leaders for the selection, production and export of healthy pigs and pork.