69855 - Genetic and Genetic Improvement

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students are expected to know those principles of genetics important for animal breeding in livestock species, with general knowledge of strategies, tools and limitations of genetic improvement.

Course contents

Phenotype and genotype. Autosomes and sexual chromosomes, genes, and alleles.

Inheritance. Mendelian laws, crossbreeding, and sex-linked inheritance.

Extensions of Mendelian principles. Multiple alleles, incomplete dominance, co-dominance, interactions between genes, epistasis.

Essential and lethal genes. General overview.

Gene expression. Variable penetrance and expressivity.

Gene location. Mapping, genetic distance, linkage.

Population genetics. Inbreeding, allele and gene frequency, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Practical session: inbreeding coefficient calculation and Chi-square test to assess Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.

Conservation plans for breeds or species. General overview.

Qualitative and quantitative traits in livestock and companion animals. Definition of environmental, genetic, and phenotypic variability and calculation of heritability.

Genetic improvement in production species. Official testing in dairy and meat species. Overview of tests available.

Genome editing. General overview.

Readings/Bibliography

Slides uploaded and shared by the instructors in the online platform. For further information and clarifications, the following books are recommended:

• G. Pagnacco "Genetica animale. Applicazioni zootecniche e veterinarie" III Edition. Ed. Casa Editrice Ambrosiana.
• P. D. Snustad e M. J. Simmons “Principi di genetica”. V Edition. Ed. Edises.

Teaching methods

The course is splitted into:

Unit I (19 hours): theorical classes.

Unit II (12 hours): practical sessions and seminars.

Assessment methods

The final exam consists in 15 questions (multiple choice), each evaluated from a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 2 points. Moreover, 1 extra open-ended question is available for additional points (min. 0 and max. 2 points).

The module (2 credits) is part of the Animal Breeding and Economics (Integrated Course), together with the other 3 modules. The final score of the Integrated Course is represented by the average obtained from the 4 evaluations (= 4 modules).

More details on date, time and place of exams are available on-line at the link of the Course. At each session, students willing to take the exam are asked to register through the AlmaEsami system.

Teaching tools

During frontal classes, both online or in person, the instructor will upload and share slides and other material useful for the sessions.

Office hours

See the website of Angela Costa