Evaluation of parentage testing in the Turkish Holstein population based on 12 microsatellite loci

Determination of declined genetic diversity of Holstein stud bulls based on microsatellite markers

Semen importing countries are trying to select the most suitable studs according to their breeding goals, while the globally widespread use of common genetic material has been turning the loss of genetic diversity into a possible danger. The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity of 304 high-yielding Holstein stud bulls whose semen were produced in Turkiye, Europe and the Americas. The values of allele frequencies, expected heterozygosity (He), observed heterozygosity (Ho), Hardy-Weinberg (HW) Equilibrium, the number of alleles per locus (Na), allelic richness (Rs), polymorphic information content (PIC) and F-statistics were calculated and compared the results with similar studies. It was observed that some indicator values of the genetic diversity were decreased compared to the values of the other studies in Holstein breed. Especially the decrease in some values of SPS115 locus was statistically significant. It is thought that this could be as a result of SPS115 to be close to possible QTL regions associated with traits which indicates overall potential of selection in stud bulls. Therefore, while applying a selection program to populations, national genetic resource management strategies that maintain genetic diversity should not be forgotten besides gaining high yield.

Selection and effectiveness of informative SNPs for paternity in Chinese Simmental cattle based on a high-density SNP array

Incorrect paternity assignment in cattle can significantly influence the accuracy of genetic evaluation. Recent advances in high-throughput technology have facilitated the identification of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and their applications for filiation and individual identification. We genotyped 1074 bulls from a reference population of Chinese Simmental cattle for genomic selection using a BovineSNP770K BeadChip. Among them, a total of 136 bulls were randomly selected to design a suitable low-density SNP panel for paternity testing in Simmental cattle. Our results showed that 50 SNPs were determined to be the most informative markers in parental testing, with an accuracy of 99.89% for CPE (cumulative probability of exclusion) in the unknown female parent case. The 50 highly informative SNP markers were distributed across 25 chromosomes, and the mean intermarker distance per chromosome was 26.72 Mb. The average minor allele frequency (MAF), expected heterozygosity (HE), and polymorphic information content (PIC) values were 0.3748, 0.4998, and 0.4818, respectively. Finally, the 50 identified SNPs were used to estimate paternity for the remaining 938 of 1074 bulls from 23 farms. Our results revealed that 76.75% of the 938 bulls were assigned parentage to the pedigree sires with 95% confidence, and the rate of pedigree record mistakes ranged from 9.52%-39.29% in different herds. Our study is the first attempt to provide valuable insights into the extraction of informative markers through the application of high-density SNP chips for paternity testing in Chinese Simmental cattle.

Biotechnologies for the management of genetic resources for food and agriculture

In recent years, the land area under agriculture has declined as also has the rate of growth in agricultural productivity while the demand for food continues to escalate. The world population now stands at 7 billion and is expected to reach 9 billion in 2045. A broad range of agricultural genetic diversity needs to be available and utilized in order to feed this growing population. Climate change is an added threat to biodiversity that will significantly impact genetic resources for food and agriculture (GRFA) and food production. There is no simple, all-encompassing solution to the challenges of increasing productivity while conserving genetic diversity. Sustainable management of GRFA requires a multipronged approach, and as outlined in the paper, biotechnologies can provide powerful tools for the management of GRFA. These tools vary in complexity from those that are relatively simple to those that are more sophisticated. Further, advances in biotechnologies are occurring at a rapid pace and provide novel opportunities for more effective and efficient management of GRFA. Biotechnology applications must be integrated with ongoing conventional breeding and development programs in order to succeed. Additionally, the generation, adaptation, and adoption of biotechnologies require a consistent level of financial and human resources and appropriate policies need to be in place. These issues were also recognized by Member States at the FAO international technical conference on Agricultural Biotechnologies for Developing Countries (ABDC-10), which took place in March 2010 in Mexico. At the end of the conference, the Member States reached a number of key conclusions, agreeing, inter alia, that developing countries should significantly increase sustained investments in capacity building and the development and use of biotechnologies to maintain the natural resource base; that effective and enabling national biotechnology policies and science-based regulatory frameworks can facilitate the development and appropriate use of biotechnologies in developing countries; and that FAO and other relevant international organizations and donors should significantly increase their efforts to support the strengthening of national capacities in the development and appropriate use of pro-poor agricultural biotechnologies.