Peptide biomarkers used for the selective breeding of a complex polygenic trait in honey bees.

ABSTRACT: We present a novel way to select for highly polygenic traits. For millennia, humans have used observable phenotypes to selectively breed stronger or more productive livestock and crops. Selection on genotype, using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and genome profiling, is also now applied broadly in livestock breeding programs; however, selection on protein/peptide or mRNA expression markers has not yet been proven useful. Here we demonstrate the utility of protein markers to select for disease-resistant hygienic behavior in the European honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). Robust, mechanistically-linked protein expression markers, by integrating cis- and trans- effects from many genomic loci, may overcome limitations of genomic markers to allow for selection. After three generations of se

SUBMITTER: Guarna MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5566959 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature