Insights into the interaction of goat breeds and their environment

Abstract Text:

More than 900 million goats are bred across the world, 95% in developing countries. Goats are raised successfully in a wide variety of environments making the species an optimal candidate to disentangle the genetics of adaptation. Here we present structure and results for the EU funded Nextgen and the AdaptMap Projects. NEXTGEN strategy is based on a comparative analysis of whole genome data to optimise genetic management of livestock diversity. A bioinformatics pipeline has been set to take advantage of whole genome sequences (10 X coverage). Adaptation in goats is investigated by studying  164 individuals sampled in places representative of the contrasted environmental conditions.The ADAPTmap project (http://www.goatadaptmap.org) is an international effort started in collaboration with the International Goat Genome Consortium, the African Goat  Improvement Network and the Nextgen project to improve coordination among otherwise independent projects for genotyping and re-sequencing of goat breeds.

Keywords: Goat, Adaptation, Landscape genomics