Key Laboratory of Chicken Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, Harbin, 150030, People's Republic of China.
J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2012 Aug 22;3(1):26. doi: 10.1186/2049-1891-3-26.
Domestic animals are invaluable resources for study of the molecular architecture of complex traits. Although the mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTL) responsible for economically important traits in domestic animals has achieved remarkable results in recent decades, not all of the genetic variation in the complex traits has been captured because of the low density of markers used in QTL mapping studies. The genome wide association study (GWAS), which utilizes high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), provides a new way to tackle this issue. Encouraging achievements in dissection of the genetic mechanisms of complex diseases in humans have resulted from the use of GWAS. At present, GWAS has been applied to the field of domestic animal breeding and genetics, and some advances have been made. Many genes or markers that affect economic traits of interest in domestic animals have been identified. In this review, advances in the use of GWAS in domestic animals are described.
家畜是研究复杂性状分子结构的宝贵资源。尽管在近几十年中，通过对与经济重要性状相关的数量性状基因座（QTL）的定位，已经取得了显著的成果，但由于 QTL 定位研究中使用的标记密度较低，复杂性状的遗传变异并未完全被捕获。全基因组关联研究（GWAS）利用高密度单核苷酸多态性（SNP），为解决这一问题提供了新的途径。GWAS 在解析人类复杂疾病的遗传机制方面取得了令人鼓舞的成果。目前，GWAS 已应用于家畜育种和遗传学领域，并取得了一些进展。许多影响家畜经济性状的基因或标记已被鉴定出来。本文综述了 GWAS 在家畜中的应用进展。
