Potential candidate gene markers for milk fat in bovines: A review

Abstract

In dairy animals, the principal goal of selection is to improve quality and quantity of milk. Genetic information inferred from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) primarily linked to Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) can be used to improve selection for milk and milk constituent traits in bovines. Selection for a marker allele known to be associated with a beneficial QTL increases the frequency of that allele and hence, dairy performance can be enhanced. One of the potential benefit of selection based on molecular marker is that the marker genotypes can be determined in a dairy animal just after birth. Thus, marker information can be used to predict an animal's genotype before its actual performance recording for a trait is available, which considerably reduces generation interval and thus improves genetic gain in a herd for milk and its constituent traits. This review article is an attempt to comprehend the idea behind marker based selection for milk fat and genes regulating milk fat with significant effects that can be targeted specifically in selection of superior dairy animals. Once an association is established, itcan be utilized in a marker assisted breeding program for improvement of bovines.