AdaptMap: Exploring goat diversity and adaptation

Authors: STELLA, ALESSANDRA - Parco Tecnologico Padano; NICOLAZZI, EZEQUIEL - Parco Tecnologico Padano; Van Tassell, Curtis - Curt; ROTHSCHILD, MAX - Iowa State University; COLLI, LICIA - Università Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore; Rosen, Benjamin - Ben; SONSTEGARD, TAD - Recombinetics, Inc; CREPALDI, PAOLA - University Of Milan; TOSSER, GWENOLA - Institut National De La Recherche Agronomique (INRA); JOOST, STEPHANE - Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne (EPFL); ADAPTMAP CONSORTIUM - Collaborator

Submitted to: Genetic Selection Evolution
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/17/2018
Publication Date: 11/19/2018
Citation: Stella, A., Nicolazzi, E.L., Van Tassell, C.P., Rothschild, M., Colli, L., Rosen, B.D., Sonstegard, T.S., Crepaldi, P., Tosser, G., Joost, S., Adaptmap Consortium. 2018. AdaptMap: Exploring goat diversity and adaptation. Genetic Selection Evolution. 50:61. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12711-018-0427-5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12711-018-0427-5

Interpretive Summary: Goats are bred worldwide and are found in a wide variety of production environments. Local breeds, well adapted to a range of agro-ecological conditions, contribute to ensuring the sustainability of livestock farming in marginal and difficult areas in both developed and developing countries. When compared to other livestock species, goats have been domesticated in a single region and subject to a limited amount of hybridization of breeds, making them among the best animals for studying genetic diversity and adaptation. The International Goat Genome Consortium (IGGC, http://www.goatgenome.org) was created in 2012 with the general goal of increasing the genomic tools and publicly available information for the goat species. In 2013, the 50K goat SNP panel was developed (http://www.goatgenome.org). Several large projects took advantage of this newly developed panel and many goat populations across the world were genotyped with a range of objectives and hypotheses: genome-wide association analyses across a spectrum of research and production traits, germplasm characterization and diversity studies, and genetic prediction for selection in commercial populations. The ADAPTMap project started as a voluntary consortium in 2014, with the aim of improving coordination among these otherwise independent projects for genotyping, resequencing and phenotyping of goat breeds.

Technical Abstract: Goats are bred worldwide and are found in a wide variety of production environments. Local breeds, well adapted to a range of agro-ecological conditions, contribute to ensuring the sustainability of livestock farming in marginal and difficult areas in both developed and developing countries. When compared to other livestock species, goats have been domesticated in a single region and subject to a limited amount of hybridization of breeds, making them among the best animals for studying genetic diversity and adaptation. The International Goat Genome Consortium (IGGC, http://www.goatgenome.org) was created in 2012 with the general goal of increasing the genomic tools and publicly available information for the goat species. In 2013, the 50K goat SNP panel was developed (http://www.goatgenome.org) by the combined sequencing of whole genomes and reduced representation libraries from eight breeds/populations from Europe and Asia through the cooperation of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, (INRA) in France, Utrecht University in The Netherlands, the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) in Malaysia, and DNA Landmarks in Canada. Several large projects took advantage of this newly developed panel and many goat populations across the world were genotyped with a range of objectives and hypotheses: genome-wide association analyses across a spectrum of research and production traits, germplasm characterization and diversity studies, and genetic prediction for selection in commercial populations. The ADAPTMap project started as a voluntary consortium in 2014, with the aim of improving coordination among these otherwise independent projects for genotyping, resequencing and phenotyping of goat breeds. ADAPTMap was promoted by the International Goat Genome Consortium (IGGC), the African Goat Improvement Network (AGIN) - a group resulting from the USAID Feed the Future (FtF) - USDA Livestock Improvement Project, the European Union sponsored, 3SR - Sustainable Solutions for Small ruminants and NEXTGEN projects.