From Genomic Selection to Functional Genomics in Beef Bos indicus: A Case Study

Following the footsteps of dairy cattle genomics, genomic selection (GS) approaches were implemented in Bos indicus(Nellore) in Brazil during the past five years. However, the use of high density SNP chip information (Bovine HD Illumina) in a cattle population phenotyped for growth rates and development traits, is allowing scientists to move beyond just the application of the GS approaches, since it became possible to investigate (and partially understand) the genetic structure underneath the same traits using functional strategies based on GWAS, Signatures of Selection, Runs of Homozigozity and CNV profiles. Many traits, such as those related to growth and size, are controlled by few genes of pleiotropic effects, which opens new perspectives for applying these information in breeding strategies. Additionally, the use of haplotypes as genotypes in such functional analysis is revealing a new strategy to identify genomic candidate regions for selection. On top of these advance, the inclusion of whole genome sequence data to better characterize those regions and eventually bring light to the specific mechanisms involved in traits expression.