Genetic Architecture of East Asian Cattle Breeds: Opportunities and Challenges

Evidence points to East Asian cattle breeds such as Hanwoo, Yanbian and Wagyu having originated from the same domestication event that gave rise to the European and African taurine breeds. They have however inhabited the region for around 5,000 years and followed their own unique evolutionary trajectory by adapting to the local environments and also changed in response to human selection. Whilst the separation between these three main taurine groups is ancient, recent studies suggest that the taurine breeds from the East Asian region have a complex history of ancient crossings with other taurine and, to lesser extent indicine breeds, which is only further confounded by recent admixture to European imports for crossbreeding purposes. Currently the most widely available source of genomic data is from SNP chips which suffers from ascertainment problems and can lead to biased estimates of relationships, inbreeding and diversity. To counteract these effects a broader sampling of the region’s breeds can be used to obtain better population parameter estimates. This talk discusses the issues of how to characterize the genetic diversity of these breeds, the importance of clearly characterizing the genomic resources available in the region for both conservation and production purposes, how artificial selection and admixture have moulded the genetic architecture of East Asian breeds, the opportunities to capitalize on these unique resources and how closer regional collaboration between research groups can help answer these questions.