Marker genome maps of the sheep and goat

The organisation of the domestic bovid genomes is very similar, thus ovine and caprine genome mapping may benefit from the most advanced bovine map. At present, there have been identified over 2000 markers in the sheep and over 700 in the goat. Recently, several spectacular examples of the genome map application for the identification of loci controlling important traits have been reported, for instance: muscular hypertrophy and high fecundity in the sheep, and polled intersex syndrome in the goat. Searching for genes controlling other traits (resistance to gastro-intestinal parasites, wool quality, milk productivity, etc.) is performed with the use of the genome scanning approach, which is based on advanced genome maps. Also other molecular tools, such as species-specific sheep and goat genome libraries cloned in bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) and cDNA libraries, bring an opportunity for a detailed study of the sheep and goat study. In the near future another important tool – the cattle genome sequence – will also be available.