Genetic Bases and Molecular Breeding of Key Economic Traits in China Dairy Cattle: A Progress Report

Animal growth is a coordinated developmental process that requires altering the expression of hundreds to thousands of genes to modify many biochemical and biological signaling cascades. The genetic analysis of economic traits and molecular breeding research are hotspots for animal husbandry and, in the case of Chinese dairy cattle, much progress has been made in recent years. Actually, the level of information of molecular events at the transcriptional, biochemical, hormonal, and metabolite levels underlying animal development process has increased considerably. The current review summarizes progress in research into the genetic basis of economic traits and molecular breeding of dairy cows, dual-purpose cattle and dairy buffalo, to better understand the molecular switch involved in development process with important consequences from a breeding point of view.