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

从基因上提高瘦肉产量和猪肉质量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。基因组增强的估计育种值（GEBV）是基于DNA标记基因型和效果。GEBV用于提高生产性状的遗传改良率，特别是对于那些难以和/或昂贵的测量，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性基因变体来改善这些性状的GEBV，并通过生成和使用全基因组序列信息和低密度SNP面板来更好地估计整体遗传效应（加性和非加性元素）。这项工作是与加拿大和国际主要养猪公司的合作，将开发先进的知识和技术，这将使学术和行业合作伙伴受益。通过该项目，降低基因分型成本（归因于插补）和增强基因组预测能力将显著增加加拿大养猪业对基因组技术的采用。新的基因组工具和技术（如序列插补，交配分配）的交付，以及经验丰富的遗传学家将改善加拿大猪育种和选择计划。此外，还将产生和共享大量的基因组数据资源，这些数据为未来的猪基因组研究提供了宝贵的信息。功能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，并最终导致养猪业经济效益的回报增加。

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.