UK Sheep Genome Mapping Project

Benefits

The project will benefit the UK sheep industry by the use of Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) utilising QTL or gene variants identified in the project.  Additional benefits may arise from parentage verification and correction of errors e.g. misallocation of lamb to ewe.  In the longer term, opportunities may exist to use markers for quality control, tracing products to their source. 

The major advantage of the design of this project is that the results are immediately applicable to the breeding schemes within which the QTLs and/or genes are detected.  The time lag in the application of the results that is often seen with experimental populations is minimised.  The project requires close involvement with the Sire Reference Schemes, in return for their assistance the 

The regular contact with the Sire Reference Schemes facilitates the technology transfer.