The use of genetic markers to improve sow productive life and genetic abnormalities

vi CHAPTER 1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 7 THESIS ORGANIZATION 7 LITERTURE REVIEW 9 REFERENCES 21 CHAPTER 2. CRACKING THE GENOMIC PIGGY BANK: 35 IDENTIFYING SECRETS OF THE PIG GENOME ABSTRACT 35 INTRODUCTION 36 MAPPING EFFORTS 37 DATABASES 38 QTL AND CANDIDATE GENES 39 FUNCTIONAL GENOMIC ANALYSIS 46 PIGS AS BIOLOGICAL MODELS 47 CONCLUSIONS 48 REFERENCES 49 CHAPTER 3. SNP DETECTION AND LINKAGE MAPPING 53 OF PIG GENES INVOLVED IN GROWTH SOURCE/DESCRIPTION 53 PRIMER SEQUENCES 53 SNP DETECTION AND POLYMORPHISMS 54 MAPPING 54 COMMENTS 54 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 55 REFERENCES 55 CHAPTER 4. THE HOLY GRAIL FOR PIGS: CANDIDATE GENES 58 AFFECTING SOW PRODUCTIVE LIFE INTRODUCTION 58 MATERIALS AND METHODS 61 RESULTS AND DISSCUSION 63 CONCLUSIONS 64 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 64 REFERENCES 65