ABSTRACT
The remarkable progress that we have been witnessing in the analysis of complex mammalian genomes – a scientific discipline now commonly referred to as genomics – may soon alleviate the latter concern, i.e., the limited choice of transgenes. Most of the required information will likely be a direct result of the massive investments that are presently being allocated to the analysis of the human and – to a slightly lesser degree – mouse genomes, epitomized by the Human Genome Project. In addition the megaprojects are indirectly driving the field of livestock genomics, and helping us to unravel the molecular biology of economically important production traits. It is noteworthy that animal breeders have used mice to model selection for all economically relevant production traits for decades. As denser maps become available, genotyping becomes more efficient and statistical methods improve, the location of single-gene traits becomes trivial in livestock species as well, as long as appropriate pedigree material is available.
