Interests

Here are some of the topics in genetics that interest me, with some related papers that I’ve been involved in:

Population genomics. With plentiful whole-genome sequence, one can describe the genetic variation of populations in ever finer detail. I am interested in genetic variation, signatures of selection and recombination rate variation in domestic and feral animals.

Genetic mapping of complex traits. I am interested in the genetic basis of complex traits that matter to farm animals, such as body size and bone quality. Mapping the genetic basis of molecular traits such as transcript levels (”eQTL mapping”) can help with identifying causative genes for quantitative traits, and also give us large sets of genetic associations to analyse.

Deleterious variation. Deleterious variants are the most tractable functional variants, and can be detected either by genotype-first or sequence-first methods. They raise all kinds of interesting management questions for breeding programs.

Related papers: Johnsson et al. 2019, Jenko et al. 2019

Domestication. Domestic animals differ from their wild relatives in many ways, including behavioural differences towards humans and other complex traits. I have been involved in genetic mapping of complex traits in chicken domestication.