Application of molecular markers in livestock improvement

With recent developments in DNA technologies, a large number of genetic polymorphisms at DNA sequence level has been introduced over the last decades as named DNA-based markers. The discovery of new class of DNA profiling markers has facilitated the development of marker-based gene tags, mapbased cloning of livestock important genes, variability studies, phylogenetic analysis, synteny mapping, marker-assisted selection of favourable genotypes, etc. The most commonly used DNA-based markers have advantages over the traditional phenotypic and biochemical markers since they provide data that can be analyzed objectively. In this article the main applications of molecular markers in present-day breeding strategies for livestock improvement - parentage determination, genetic distance estimation, genetic diversity, gene mapping and marker-assisted selection have been reviewed.