Farm animals

Abstract

Farm animal genomics will add to our basic understanding of genotype–phenotype relationships and may lead to important practical applications in agriculture and human medicine. Genetic studies of those traits that have been under strong artificial selection during the history of animal domestication are particularly interesting due to the enrichment of novel mutations in certain populations. The genomic tools and resources are accumulating rapidly for farm animals, as shown by the release of the first high‐quality draft genome sequence for a farm animal, the chicken, during 2004. The available genome resources and the strategies for mapping and molecular characterization of trait loci are reviewed. The power of farm animal genomics is illustrated by the successful identifications of the causative mutations for simple monogenic traits as well as some quantitative trait loci.