• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.739-743
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• 2011

The aim of this paper was to estimate genetic parameters for body weight and five body measurements for an experimental population of Iranian Makooei sheep maintained at the Makooei Sheep Breeding Station at Makoo, Iran. To do this, yearling live weight (YW), and five body measurements, i.e., body length (BL), heart girth (HG), height at withers (HW), height at back (HB) and scrotal circumference (SC), were analyzed in a multi-trait animal model using the DXMUX program of DFREML software package. Heritability estimates were $0.22{\pm}0.08$, $0.11{\pm}0.06$, $0.21{\pm}0.07$, $0.17{\pm}0.06$, $0.17{\pm}0.06$ and $0.32{\pm}0.10$ for YW, BL, HG, HW, HB and SC, respectively. These estimates indicate that selection in Makooei sheep would generate moderate genetic progress in body weight and body measurements. Scrotal circumference, as an indicator of reproductive potential, exhibited the highest heritability. This trait, therefore, could successfully be used to increase productivity of males and, indirectly, female fertility. Genetic correlations between traits studied were all positive and ranged from 0.15 (YW/HB) to 0.99 (HW/HB). Phenotypic correlations were also positive and ranged from moderate (0.32, HW/SC) to high (0.94, HW/HB). Positive genetic and phenotypic correlations indicate that improvement in body measurements both at the genetic and phenotypic levels is expected through selection on body weight and vice versa.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.712-721
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• 2020

Objective: The Wannan Black pig is a typical Chinese indigenous, disease-resistant pig breed with high fertility, and a crude-feed tolerance that has been bred by artificial selection in the south of Anhui province for a long time. However, genome variation, genetic relationships with other pig breeds, and domestication, remain poorly understood. Here, we focus on elucidating the genetic characteristics of the Wannan Black pig and identifying selection signatures during domestication and breeding. Methods: We identified the whole-genome variation in the Wannan Black pig and performed population admixture analyses to determine genetic relationships with other domesticated pig breeds and wild boars. Then, we identified the selection signatures between the Wannan Black pig and Asian wild boars in 100-kb windows sliding in 10 kb steps by using two approaches: the fixation index (F_ST) and π ratios. Results: Resequencing the Wannan Black pig genome yielded 501.52 G of raw data. After calling single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) and insertions/deletions (InDels), we identified 21,316,754 SNVs and 5,067,206 InDels (2,898,582 inserts and 2,168,624 deletions). Additionally, we found genes associated with growth, immunity, and digestive functions. Conclusion: Our findings help in explaining the unique genetic and phenotypic characteristics of Wannan Black pigs, which in turn can be informative for future breeding programs of Wannan Black pigs.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.142-150
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• 2009

The complete genome sequences of RNA3 and RNA4 of the 13 different Rice stripe virus (RSV) isolates were determined and characterized in this study to address the possible causes of the recent re-emergence of RSV that affected many rice fields in Korea. The genome size of each RNA segment varied among isolates and significant differences were observed in the intergenic region. There was up to 4% average divergence in the RNA4 nucleotide sequence among 13 Korean isolates and only 1.4% in the RNA3. Phylogenetic relationships among different Korean isolates revealed that there were at least 2 types of RNA3 and 4 distinct types of RNA4 genomes present in Korea. However, Korean isolates with one type of RNA3 predominate over the other while the occurrences of the RSV Korean isolates with the 4 types of RNA4 genome were not correlated to specific geographical areas. Results further indicate that RNA4 had diverged more than RNA3 and these differences in accumulation of mutations in the individual RNA segments indicate that genetic reassortment were likely to contribute to the genetic divergence in the 13 Korean isolates. All of the Korean-RNA3 sequences except for one isolate grouped with Chinese isolates (JY and Z). In contrast, the RNA 4 sequences segregated together with either Chinese (JY and Z) and Japanese (M and T) isolates but genetic relationships of Korean isolates- RNAs 3 and 4 segments to Chinese-Y isolate were low. Altogether, these results suggest that the occurrence of mixtures of RNAs 3 and 4 genotypes in the natural population of RSV may have contributed to the sudden outbreak in Korea.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.331-339
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• 2008

The genetic structure and diversity of 15 Chinese indigenous chicken breeds was investigated using 29 microsatellite markers. The total number of birds examined was 542, on average 36 birds per breed. A total of 277 alleles (mean number 9.55 alleles per locus, ranging from 2 to 25) was observed. All populations showed high levels of heterozygosity with the lowest estimate of 0.440 for the Gushi chickens, and the highest one of 0.644 observed for Wannan Three-yellow chickens. The global heterozygote deficit across all populations (FIT) amounted to 0.180 (p<0.001). About 16% of the total genetic variability originated from differences between breeds, with all loci contributing significantly to this differentiation. An unrooted consensus tree was constructed using the Neighbour-Joining method and pair-wise distances based on marker estimated kinships. Two main groups were found. The heavy-body type populations grouped together in one cluster while the light-body type populations formed the second cluster. The STRUCTURE software was used to assess genetic clustering of these chicken breeds. Similar to the phylogenetic analysis, the heavy-body type and light-body type populations separated first. Clustering analysis provided an accurate representation of the current genetic relations among the breeds. Remarkably similar breed rankings were obtained with all methods.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.197-201
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• 2009

The food self-support rate on the basis of cereals in Korea is approximately 27%, which will threaten the national food security. The dramatic increase in population accompanied by rapid industrialization in developing countries has caused imbalances in the supply of food and energy. To cope with these global crises over food and energy supplies as well as environmental problems, it is urgently required to develop new environmentally friendly industrial crop varieties to be grown on marginal lands including desertification areas for sustainable development. Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) ranks seventh in annual production among food crops in the world. Its wide adaptability on marginal lands and rich nutritional content provide a high potential for preventing malnutrition and enhancing food security in the developing countries. In addition, sweetpotato can be developed as a bioreactor to produce valuable industrial materials including bio-ethanol, functional feed and antioxidants by molecular breeding. In this respect, we focus on the molecular breeding of sweetpotato with multi-function on marginal lands. The strategies for development of environmentally friendly industrial sweetpotato will be introduced and discussed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.1031-1040
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to characterize factors influencing genetic improvement of dairy cattle for milk production at farm level. Data were accumulated from 305-day milk yields and pedigree information from 1,921 first-lactation dairy cows that calved from 1990 to 2007 on 161 farms in Central Thailand. Variance components were estimated using average information restricted maximum likelihood procedures. Animal breeding values were predicted by an animal model that contained herd-year-season, calving age, and regression additive genetic group as fixed effects, and cow and residual as random effects. Estimated breeding values from cows that calved in a particular month were used to estimate genetic trends for each individual farm. Within-farm genetic trends (b, regression coefficient of farm milk production per month) were used to classify farms into 3 groups: i) farms with negative genetic trend (b<-0.5 kg/mo), ii) farms with no genetic trend (-0.5 kg/$mo{\leq}b{\leq}0.5$ kg/mo), and iii) farms with positive genetic trend (b>0.5 kg/mo). Questionnaires were used to gather information from individual farmers on educational background, herd characteristics, farm management, decision making practices, and opinion on dairy farming. Farmer's responses to the questionnaire were used to test the association between these factors and farm groups using Fisher's exact test. Estimated genetic trend for the complete population was $0.29{\pm}1.02$ kg/year for cows. At farm level, most farms (40%) had positive genetic trend ($0.63{\pm}4.67$ to $230.79{\pm}166.63$ kg/mo) followed by farms with negative genetic trend (35%; $-173.68{\pm}39.63$ to $-0.62{\pm}2.57$ kg/mo) and those with no genetic trend (25%; $-0.52{\pm}3.52$ to $0.55{\pm}2.68$ kg/mo). Except for educational background (p<0.05), all other factors were not significantly associated with farm group.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.429-436
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• 2009

We conducted a QTL analysis of grain quality traits using 117 $BC_3F_4$ and $BC_3F_5$ lines developed from a cross between Ilpumbyeo and Moroberekan. Genotypes of 117 $BC_3F_5$ lines were determined using 134 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. A linkage map constructed using 134 SSR markers was employed to characterize quantitative trait loci (QTL). The 117 $BC_3F_4$ and $BC_3F_5$ lines were evaluated for eleven grain quality traits in 2005 and 2006. A total of 18 QTLs were identified for eleven traits, and the phenotypic variance explained by each QTL ranged from 9.9% to 35.2%. Moroberekan alleles contributed positive effects in the Ilpumbyeo background at two QTL loci for 1,000 grain weight. Four QTLs, two for chalky rice and one each for 1,000 grain weight and head rice were consistently detected in two consecutive years indicating that these QTLs are stable. Clusters of QTLs were observed in three chromosome regions. One cluster harboring five QTLs including head rice and brown rice ratio near SSR markers RM190 and RM314 was detected on chromosome 6. Another cluster harboring grain weight and white belly was detected on chromosome 2. Increase in white belly at this locus might be due to the increase in grain weight due to the presence of the Moroberekan allele. The Moroberekan alleles at two QTL loci, gw3 and gw4 associated with increased grain weight might be useful in breeding programs to develop high-yielding cultivars.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.360-367
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• 2011

Beta-carotene producing transformants were produced in the background of 'Nagdongbyeo', a Japonica rice cultivar. Introgression of the carotenoid locus in the transformant, PAC4-2 into the elite cultivar 'Ilpumbyeo' was started. To initiate a backcrossing program, we surveyed 220 SSR markers and found that 38% of them were polymorphic between 'Ilpumbyeo' as a recurrent parent and the PAC4-2 as a recipient parent. The selection strategy comprising foreground and background selection was employed. First, foreground selection was practiced in $BC_1$, $BC_2$, and $BC_3$ generations using the transgene specific PCR-based marker in addition to visual scoring of the seed color. Marker-based background selection combined with phenotypic selection was employed from $BC_3F_2$ to $BC_3F_4$ generations. Blast search indicated that the transgene PAC4-2 was located between SSR markers, RM6 and RM482. 240 $BC_3F_3$ and 63 $BC_3F_4$ lines were evaluated for four agronomic traits including days to heading. Most of the lines were similar to Ilpumbyeo in agronomic traits evaluated. The percentage of PAC4-2 genome ranged from 4% to 21% with a mean of 12.5%, which was higher than the expected for an unselected $BC_3$ backcross population. This could be explained by the fact that two genes for beta-carotene and the stripe virus resistance were targeted in this study. We selected 10 representative $BC_3F_5$ lines from 63 $BC_3F_4$ lines based on agronomic traits and carotenoids content. The selection strategy would be appropriate for the introgression of beta-carotene gene in a breeding program.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.35-39
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• 2010

Soybean proteins are widely used for human and animal feed in the world. ${\beta}$-conglycinin protein exhibits poor nutritional and food processing properties and Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) protein is a main anti-nutritional factor in soybean seed. The objective of this research was to identify the inheritance of $cgy_1$ gene and ti gene for the improvement of soybean cultivar with no KTI proteins and low amount of ${\beta}$-conglycinin. $F_2$ population was made by crossing between "Gaechuck2ho" (${\alpha}^{\prime}$-subunit present $Cgy_1Cgy_1$, KTI protein absent titi) and PI506876 (${\alpha}^{\prime}$-subunit absent $cgy_1cgy_1$, KTI protein present TiTi) parent. A total of 434 $F_2$ seeds were obtained and analyzed for the segregation of ${\alpha}^{\prime}$-subunit protein and KTI protein using SDS-PAGE. The segregation ratio of 3 : 1 for $Cgy_1$ locus (310 $Cgy_1$_ : 124 $cgy_1cgy_1$) and Ti locus (339 Ti_ : 95 titi) were observed. Segregation ratios of 9 : 3 : 3 : 1 (241 $Cgy_1$_Ti_: 69 $Cgy_1$_titi: 98 $cgy_1cgy_1$Ti_: 26 $cgy_1cgy_1titi$) between $Cgy_1$ gene and Ti gene in $F_2$ seeds were also observed (${\chi}^2= 5.367$, P = 0.10 - 0.20). This data showed that $Cgy_1$ gene was inherited independently with the Ti gene in soybean. These results will be useful in breeding program for selecting the line that does not exhibit or lacks both ${\alpha}^{\prime}$-subunit protein and KTI protein in soybean.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.917-926
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• 2022

The green turtle Chelonia mydas has been designated as an endangered species globally due to its reduced population. Although C. mydas is not known to reproduce on the shores of the Korean peninsula, it has been listed as a protected marine species in South Korea. This study describes the first successful captive breeding of C. mydas in a commercial aquarium in South Korea and provides information on the early growth patterns of C. mydas hatched and reared in indoor facilities. C. mydas YS-B003 laid a total of 594 eggs in ten nesting events in the period December 2016-June 2017. Of these, 115 fertilized eggs from six events hatched successfully. The size of the newly hatched turtles differed significantly among nesting events. The hatchlings from the 8^th and 9^th nesting events were relatively smaller than those from the 3^rd and 5^th events. The rate of growth initially varied across the different events, but from the 1,000^th day, the inter-group variation disappeared. The present study provides useful information for future captive breeding of sea turtles in indoor facilities, which would contribute to the protection of these endangered sea turtle species.