Search results for " miglioramento"
showing 10 items of 219 documents
Genome-wide association study for milk production traits in Valle del Belice sheep
2017
Over the last years, high-throughput technologies have provided the opportunity to explore the genomes of livestock species to identify regions influencing traits of economic interest. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have been widely used to disentangle the genetic variation in complex phenotypes, such as milk production traits in sheep. The study presented here investigated the possible association of genome-wide SNPs and breeding values for milk production traits in the Valle del Belice sheep. The studied population consisted of a total of 481 ewes belonging to 9 half-sib families with available records for milk yield (MY), protein and fat percentage (P% and F%, respectively). All …
High-density SNP markers elucidate the genetic divergence and population structure of Noticiana sheep breed in the Mediterranean context
2023
Among livestock species, sheep have played an early major role in the Mediterranean area. Italy has a long history of sheep breeding and, despite a dramatic contraction in numbers, still raise several local populations that may represent a unique source of genetic diversity. The Noticiana is a breed of the south-eastern part of Sicily appreciated both for its dairy products and for its resistance to harsh environment. In this study, the high-density Illumina Ovine SNP600K BeadChip array was used for the first genome-wide characterization of 48 individuals of Noticiana sheep to investigate its diversity, the genome structure and the relationship within the context of worldwide and Italian br…
Haplotypes of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in casein loci of Girgentana goats explain isoelectrofocusing results.
2006
Goat milk, cheese and yoghurt offer an alternative to cow milk products. In Sicily one of the important goat breeds reared is the Girgentana. Traditionally the milk from Girgentana goats was used for nourishment of infants and elderly. Recently, the Girgentana breed has been in decline. This of concern, as the Girgentana may carry unique milk protein genetic variants. If health benefits of Girgentana goat milk is proven, then increasing production from this population will be of great interest. The most abundant proteins in goat milk, as in other milks, are the caseins, αS1-, β-, αS2- and κ-casein, coded by the loci CSN1S1, CSN2, CSN1S2 and CSN3 respectively. In other goat breeds, the casei…
Italian Goat Consortium: a collaborative project to study the Italian caprine biodiversity.
2017
The Italian Goat Consortium (IGC), joined the effort of many Universities and Research Institutes, in a comprehensive study of the Italian goat population genetic makeup using a medium density (54K) SNPs chip. Currently IGC has genotyped more than 1,000 animals from more than 30 goat breeds and populations from all Italian geographical and agroecological areas of goat rearing. The aim of this work is to obtain a clear picture of the Italian caprine biodiversity, to reconstruct the ancestry, to disentangle the genetic background and to assess the relationships among and within the investigated breeds. To date, the IGC dataset includes about 50 million genotypes. The data were quality checked…
Molecular characterization of the Sicilian goat populations
2014
The Sicilian goats are characterized by a strong population admixture structure, caused by geographical location of the farms, influences of natural mating and traditional breeding systems where flock represents an important breeding unit. Nowadays, several local populations are reared in Sicily, some of which do not have a recognized defined genetic structure, having taken origin from several crosses between animals of different breeds/populations sharing the same environment. The aim of this work was to characterize the Sicilian autochthonous goat populations using microsatellite markers and genetic polymorphisms of casein genes
Exploring genome-wide differentiation and signatures of selection in Italian and North American Holstein populations
2023
Among Italian dairy cattle, the Holstein is the most reared breed for the production of Parmigiano Reggiano protected designation of origin cheese, which represents one of the most renowned products in the entire Italian dairy industry. In this work, we used a medium-density genome-wide data set consisting of 79,464 imputed SNPs to study the genetic structure of Italian Holstein breed, including the population reared in the area of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese production, and assessing its distinctiveness from the North American population. Multidimensional scaling and ADMIXTURE approaches were used to explore the genetic structure among populations. We also investigated putative genomic regi…
LINKAGE DISEQUILIBRIUM AND GENETIC DIVERSITY IN TWO SICILIAN CATTLE BREEDS ASSESSED BY BOVINE SNP CHIP
2013
The Modicana (MOD) and Cinisara (CIN) are two Sicilian cattle breeds farmed in extensive systems and their economic importance lies on the traditional making of two typical ‘pasta filata’ cheeses. The aim of this study was to explore the genetic structure and the extent of Linkage Disequilibrium (LD) of MOD and CIN cattle breeds. A total of 144 animals were genotyped, using the Bovine SNP50K v2 BeadChip. The squared correlation coefficient between two loci (r2) was used as a measure of LD. Principal components analysis (PCA), molecular inbreeding (F) and Bayesian clustering algorithm (Pritchard et al., 2000) were used to explore the relationship between individuals and populations. The r2 r…
Using of SNP markers to estimate inbreeding, coancestry and effective population size in Sicilian cattle breeds
2014
Maintaining the highest levels of genetic diversity and limiting the increase in inbreeding is the premise of most conservation programs. The aim of this work was to estimate the inbreeding (F), coancestry (f) and effective population size (Ne) in two Sicilian cattle breeds, Cinisara (CIN) and Modicana (MOD). Rate of molecular inbreeding and coancestry were used to estimate the Ne. A total of 144 animals were genotyped using the Illumina Bovine SNP50K v2 BeadChip. The average molecular F and f coefficients were 0.68±0.024 and 0.67±0.03 in CIN and 0.69±0.020 and 0.70±0.03 in MOD cattle breeds, respectively. The results were not unexpected considering the reduced number of reared animals and …
Linkage disequilibrium and genetic diversity estimation in three Sicilian autochthonous dairy sheep breeds
2014
Understanding genetic structure is essential for achieving genetic improvement through genome-wide association studies, genomic selection and the dissection of quantitative traits. In the present study, we used the OvineSNP50K BeadChip to characterize LD, identify haplotype blocks and to analyze genetic diversity in the Valle del Belice (VDB), Comisana (COM) and Pinzirita (PIN) dairy sheep breeds. LD between adjacent SNPs and for all pairwise combinations of SNPs on each chromosome was measured using r2. Haplotype blocks were estimated using D’ based method. Genetic diversity and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were calculated using PLINK. Small differences in average LD value for adjace…
Genetic characterization of the Mascaruna goat, a Sicilian autochthonous population, using molecular markers
2013
The aim of this work was to characterize a Sicilian autochthonous goat population using microsatellite markers and genetic polymorphisms at the casein genes. In order to investigate the genetic structure of the Mascaruna goat, a total of 60 (20 Girgentana, 20 mixed populations, and 20 Mascaruna) individuals were analyzed, using a panel of 18 microsatellite markers. Moreover, the Mascaruna goats were genotyped at casein loci using several molecular techniques. Based on the genetic structure at casein genes, the Mascaruna goat was similar to most goat breeds from the Mediterranean area, which are characterized by the predominance of strong alleles. The low value of genetic differentiation amo…