Research summary
Understanding how desirable and undesirable traits are controlled at the DNA level could help farmers breed healthy, disease-resistant animals. Yet despite rapid advances in genomic technologies, relatively little progress has been made in understanding how DNA controls trait expression in livestock.
As Canada Research Chair in Livestock Genomics, Dr. Christine Baes aims to better understand the genomic architecture of quantitative traits in livestock. She and her research team are trying to characterize and ultimately better control homozygosity (the inheritance of two identical forms of a particular gene from each parent) in Canadian farm animals in order to manage the potentially detrimental effects of inbreeding. By uncovering the relationship between phenotype and genotype and using genetic and genomic technologies, their research could improve the health, efficiency, productivity and welfare of farm animals.