USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD, United States.
Anim Reprod Sci. 2020 Sep;220:106354. doi: 10.1016/j.anireprosci.2020.106354. Epub 2020 May 19.
Fertility is an important economic trait in livestock and poultry that relies on the genetic merit of both males and females. Despite the importance of the paternal contribution to reproductive success, the preponderance of research has focused on the female. The advent of the 'omics' era has stimulated the search for accurate predictors of male fertility, which is especially important for animal production where the fertility status of males most often is not known until sexual maturity is reached, and methods to assess semen quality often are not correlated with fertility, especially subfertile males. Identification and validation of biomarkers, such as genes, transcripts, proteins, metabolites, that are associated with fertility phenotypes has great potential to improve the reproductive efficiency of livestock and poultry. Recent findings of candidate genes and biomarkers primarily associated with semen and sperm are highlighted for the major agricultural species.
生育力是家畜和家禽的一个重要经济性状，它依赖于雌雄两性的遗传优势。尽管父本对繁殖成功的贡献很重要，但绝大多数研究都集中在雌性上。“组学”时代的到来刺激了对雄性生育力的准确预测因子的研究，这对于动物生产尤其重要，因为在动物生产中，直到达到性成熟时才知道雄性的生育能力，而且评估精液质量的方法通常与生育能力（尤其是生育力低下的雄性）无关。鉴定和验证与生育表型相关的生物标志物，如基因、转录本、蛋白质、代谢物等，具有极大地提高家畜和家禽繁殖效率的潜力。主要农业物种中与精液和精子主要相关的候选基因和生物标志物的最新发现被强调。
