British sheep breeds as a part of world sheep gene pool landscape: Looking into genomic applications

Abstract

Sheep farming has been an important sector of the UK’s economy and rural life for many centuries. It is the favored source of wool, meat and milk products. In the era of exponential progress in genomic technologies, we can now address the questions of what is special about UK sheep breed genotypes and how they differ genetically form one another and from other countries. We can re-flect how their natural history has been determined at the level of their genetic code and what traces have been left in their genomes because of selection for phenotypic traits. These include adaptability to certain environmental conditions and management, as well as resistance to disease. Application of these advancements in genetics and genomics to study sheep breeds of British domestic selection has begun and will continue in order to facilitate conservation solutions and production improve-ment.