marker-assisted selection in wheat

22Marker-assisted selection – Current status and future perspectives in crops, livestock, forestry and fishTable 6Use of molecular markers reported in country reports on AnGR managementRegionNumberprovidinginformationReporting useof molecularmarkers%Number withinformation onspeciesReporting use of molecular markersIn cattle%In other species%Europe 29 83 18 89 100Africa 29 14 3 100 33Asia 16 50 7 86 100Latin America and the Caribbean 15 73 9 78 89Southwest Pacific 9 11 0 - -North America 2 100 1 100 100Near and Middle East 5 40 2 0 100Not surprisingly, the information providedby the country reports indicates thatthere is a large gap between developed anddeveloping countries in terms of capacity toutilize molecular markers for the study andmanagement of AnGR (Table 6). Comparedwith other developing regions, a higherpercentage of countries from Asia andLatin America and the Caribbean reportedtheir use. In Africa, the Southwest Pacific(excluding Australia), the Near and MiddleEast, and Eastern Europe and the Caucasus,very few countries report the use of thesetechnologies, the prominent exception inthe last case being Ukraine which hascarried out molecular characterization andgenetic distance studies on a number oflivestock species (CR Ukraine, 2004).In Africa, only four countries describethe existence of characterization or geneticdistance studies based on the use of molecularmarkers and in all cases the studies relate tolocal breeds. One country report indicatesthat local breeds of goat, pig and chickenare the subject of molecular characterizationcarried out abroad. In no case is the use ofMAS reported from this region.Excluding Japan, seven Asian countries(out of 15 providing information onwhether or not the technologies are used)report molecular marker studies, of whichfive specify genetic distance studies and onementions research into MAS (CR Malaysia,2003). A range of species are the subjectof molecular characterization, the mostcommon being cattle, chickens, sheep, goatsand pigs; however, some studies involvingbuffaloes, ducks, horses, camels or deerare also reported. Systematic studies ofAsian breeds are being conducted by theSociety for Research on Native Livestockin Japan, including analysis of genetic relationshipsbased on mitochondrial DNApolymorphisms and other DNA markers(CR Japan, 2003).In Latin America and the Caribbean,11 countries out of the 15 that providedinformation indicate some use of molecularmarkers. Among nine countries providinginformation on the species involved inmolecular characterization studies, sevenmentioned cattle while smaller numbersmention sheep, pigs, chickens, horses,goats, buffaloes, llamas, alpacas, vicuñasor guanacos. Several countries indicate theinclusion of locally adapted breeds in suchstudies, but there was little indication thatmolecular markers have been incorporatedwithin breeding programmes. However,the report from Colombia (2003) notedthe potential significance of MAS programmesfor utilizing the genes of theBlanco Orejinegro cattle breed, which isreported to show resistance to brucellosisand which has been the subject of molecularcharacterization.