Caprine genome analysis reveals valuable insights into selection of enhanced phenotypic traits to enable improved goat breeding programs

A commonly farmed bovid ruminant, the goat is often kept in low input production systems, frequently at subsistence levels. Under such conditions, the adoption of effective commercial breeding programs is limited, let alone engaging more advanced technologies such as those needed for marker-assisted selection. Developments have been made in gene mapping of the sheep, another small ruminant, with the marker map now consisting of more than 1,200 microsatellites, and a virtual genome sequence together with a very dense single nucleotide polymorphism map are expected. Gene mapping in goats has advanced far less, with mainly some activity in dairy herds, but historically this was hampered greatly by the expense of genotyping for genomic selection in goat breeding. However, rapidly reducing genotyping costs coupled with a better understanding of how to maximize benefits of genomic selection mean adoption is poised to rise dramatically. Integration of genotypic information into commercial genetic evaluation and optimal selection strategies is an ongoing challenge that deserves more research investment and industry stakeholder engagement. This review of current efforts serves to evaluate how far the work on the caprine genome is progressing and to highlight areas for future consideration.