ALS 3104 Animal Breeding and Genetics
Spring 2022
Instructor
- Name: Gota Morota
- Office: 368 Litton Reaves Hall
- Email: morota@vt.edu
- Web: http://morotalab.org/
- Office Hours: Wednesdays and Thursdays 3:30 - 4:30 pm
Graduate Teaching Assistants
- Name: Sabrina Amorim
- Office: 3697 Litton Reaves Hall (Student Resource Center)
- Email: asabrina@vt.edu
- Web: https://sabrinaam.github.io
- Office Hours: Mondays 10 am - 12 pm
- Name: Ye Bi
- Office: 3697 Litton Reaves Hall (Student Resource Center)
- Email: yebi@vt.edu
- Web: https://yebi.netlify.app
- Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 9 - 10:30 am
Time and Location
- Tue/Thu 11:00 - 12:15 pm
- Steger Hall N 145
Prerequisites
- BIOL 1105
- STAT 2004 or STAT 3005
- APSC 1454 or DASC 2474 or DASC 2484
Required Materials
- Bourdon, Richard M. UNDERSTANDING ANIMAL BREEDING, Second edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2000. 538 pp. [Link]
- A calculator that is not your phone or any electronic device that connects to the internet.
Course Description
Principles of genetics applied to improvement of domestic animals: factors affecting genetic improvement of economically relevant traits, estimation of breeding values, heritability, genetic correlations, relationships, inbreeding, crossbreeding, genetic abnormalities, genomic selection, and gene editing; ethical reasoning in animal breeding decisions.
Learning Objectives
After taking this course, the student will be able to:
- Assess factors that affect genetic improvement in animals
- Design appropriate breeding systems for animals through the application of structured selection and mating decisions
- Manage genetic conditions in animals, taking into account inherent economic and ethical considerations
- Estimate and interpret the genetic merit of domestic animals for economically relevant traits
- Critically evaluate new technologies in quantitative and molecular genetics for use in genetic improvement programs
Syllabus
Schedule
- Tuesday, 1/18: Mendelian Inheritance and Population Genetics
- Thursday, 1/20:
- Tuesday, 1/25:
- Thursday, 1/27:
- Tuesday, 2/1: Mating Systems
- Thursday, 2/3: Exam 1
- Tuesday, 2/8:
- Thursday, 2/10:
- Tuesday, 2/15:
- Thursday, 2/17:
- Tuesday, 2/22:
- Thursday, 2/24: Exam 2
- Tuesday, 3/1: The Genetic Model and Direct Selection
- Thursday, 3/3:
- Tuesday, 3/8: No class (Spring Break)
- Thursday, 3/10: No class (Spring Break)
- Tuesday, 3/15:
- Thursday, 3/17:
- Tuesday, 3/22:
- Thursday, 3/24: Exam 3
- Tuesday, 3/29: Correlated Response and Multiple Trait Selection
- Thursday, 3/31:
- Tuesday, 4/5:
- Thursday, 4/7: Exam 4
- Tuesday, 4/12: Genetic Prediction
- Thursday, 4/14:
- Tuesday, 4/19:
- Thursday, 4/21:
- Tuesday, 4/26: No class
- Thursday, 4/28: Exam 5
- Tuesday, 5/3: Final Review
- Thursday, 5/5: No class
- Wednesday, 5/11: Final Exam