Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Applications in Animals

Abstract

Polymorphism occurs between individuals of the same species. It can be distinguished phenotypically in production, disease resistance and tolerance, coat color, height, weight… etc and genotypically using molecular markers for instance Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs), Minisatellites or VNTRs (Variable Numbers of Tandem Repeats) Microsatellites or SSRs (Simple Sequence Repeats), large (copy number variants) and small segmental deletions/insertions/duplications, Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs).SNPs are changes of single base to another base in a given region of the genome. It is widely accepted molecular marker due to high throughput technology and statistically sound approach. They are used to identify candidate genes, gene mapping, QTL identification, and generally applied in marker assisted breeding. It has been used in disease diagnosis and pharmacology to identify the correct medication for the individual patients. It has also advantage in food safety and quality assurance scheme.  It helps to recognize the species in the meat market, which is protected from illegal substitution of high price meat with low price one and unhealthy meat. Moreover SNPs are better marker than others in its application and advanced technology that support its acceptability.Therefore, this review article illustrates the application of SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers.

Keywords: SNPs, Genomics, Breeding, Disease, Food safety