Molecular markers and their Potentials in Animal Breeding and Genetics

Abstract

Over the centuries, livestock improvements largely depend on the selective breeding of the individual
animals with superior phenotype. The advent of DNA markers in recent years allowed for easy selection of
a number of valuable traits more directly. Molecular markers have played a significant role in animal
breeding and genetics by providing the opportunities in maximizing selection particularly for those traits
that have low heritability or traits for which measurement of phenotype is difficult, expensive, or only
possible in late life. Different types of molecular markers such as restriction fragment length
polymorphisms (RFLPs), microsatellites (SSR), and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), have been
widely used in molecular breeding as they can be amplified easily through polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) and could be employed to estimate the genetic diversity within or between the breeding populations.
These markers can be used simply as reference points in transgenic breeding to identify the animals with
specific transgenes or to select the genes/genomic regions that affect economic traits through markerassisted selection. Hence, the overall improvement in livestock species is greatly aided through the use of
molecular markers.