Prediction of heterosis using genome-wide SNP-marker data: application to egg production traits in white Leghorn crosses.

ABSTRACT: Prediction of heterosis has a long history with mixed success, partly due to low numbers of genetic markers and/or small data sets. We investigated the prediction of heterosis for egg number, egg weight and survival days in domestic white Leghorns, using ∼400 000 individuals from 47 crosses and allele frequencies on ∼53 000 genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). When heterosis is due to dominance, and dominance effects are independent of allele frequencies, heterosis is proportional to the squared difference in allele frequency (SDAF) between parental pure lines (not necessarily homozygous). Under these assumptions, a linear model including regression on SDAF partitions crossbred phenotypes into pure-line values and heterosis, even without pure-line phenotypes. We therefore us

SUBMITTER: Amuzu-Aweh EN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3833690 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature