Work

The future of systems genetics in farm animal sciences, a route out of the data jungle

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Farm animal species are under intense selection on relatively small population sizes. Genetic and genomic selection has provided remarkable genetic gains in the last century. Nevertheless, current methods aiming to link genome to phenome in such populations remain limited, notably due to the diﬃculty to identify causal variants for complex traits. The diversity of species as well as breeds in livestock has diluted the number of genomic datasets available for each genome as compared to model organisms or human diseases. In this article, we propose a systems genetics approach as an opportunity to go beyond current limits and ﬁnd a way out of the data jungle, taking advantage of novel computational development allowing integration of omics datasets from diﬀerent analyses across species. A major challenge is that systems genetics requires careful but eﬃcient data and metadata management, as well as rigorous statistical strategies on which approach to use. Here, we highlight examples of the broad contribution systems genetics can bring to farm animal sciences, particularly across species, notably in the genome-to-phenome ﬁeld within the larger scope of agricultural challenges, including adaptation to environmental changes and animal welfare.

Source: Peer Community Journal

DOI: 10.24072/pcjournal.653