Universidad Complutense de Madrid :: NILS mobility project

"One of the aims of breeding and genetics activities is ‘to further develop the combination of molecular biological methods and traditional breeding'. This project is highly relevant to that aim as it will utilise genomic information to develop guidelines for mating procedures, one of the key breeding activities, to maximise the genetic benefits obtained. In addition, methods to utilise non-additive effects (dominance), which per definition is an issue of mating strategies, will be developed. A high emphasis on the management of genetic variation, measured both by performance and by chromosomal diversity, the project is also relevant for sustainable production.

This project aims to fill knowledge gaps concerned with the optimum way to use matings to further the objectives of an aquaculture breeding scheme, both to improve the possibilities for the selection of superior animals, and to provide an efficient statistical design for the estimation of gene and/or marker effects.

This will be achieved by developing new theory and extending results to different ploidies appropriate to aquaculture, and to estimation of effects of dense SNP genotypes. The potential impact will be assessed by comparison of conventional and novel mating designs in aquaculture scenarios that are commercially relevant"