Journal
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 365, Issue 1537, Pages 73-85Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2009.0203
Keywords
genetics; animal breeding; quantitative genetics; heritability
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Quantitative genetics, or the genetics of complex traits, is the study of those characters which are not affected by the action of just a few major genes. Its basis is in statistical models and methodology, albeit based on many strong assumptions. While these are formally unrealistic, methods work. Analyses using dense molecular markers are greatly increasing information about the architecture of these traits, but while some genes of large effect are found, even many dozens of genes do not explain all the variation. Hence, new methods of prediction of merit in breeding programmes are again based on essentially numerical methods, but incorporating genomic information. Long-term selection responses are revealed in laboratory selection experiments, and prospects for continued genetic improvement are high. There is extensive genetic variation in natural populations, but better estimates of covariances among multiple traits and their relation to fitness are needed. Methods based on summary statistics and predictions rather than at the individual gene level seem likely to prevail for some time yet.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available