Accuracy of selection for omega-3 fatty acid content in Atlantic salmon fillets

Abstract

The main aim of the current study was to compare the accuracy of selection for muscle content of fat and the health-promoting omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA in Atlantic salmon, by varying the sources of genetic information used in the estimation of breeding values. The following genetic information sources were compared: pedigree, SNP-chip markers and allele-specific expression markers. The results showed that differences between information sources were in general small, and different genetic information performed best for different traits. SNP-chip performed best for DHA, and pedigree performed best for EPA. Knowledge from gene expression analysis of a few individuals can be utilized to select a small panel of markers that perform relatively well. Genetic markers of allele-specific expression were able to capture a lot of genetic variation for DHA, but did not give significantly higher accuracies when combined with SNP-chip or pedigree information. The cross-validation accuracies for selection for DHA and EPA were moderate and offer possibilities for selection for these traits, especially if one extends the reference data set to a much bigger population, with more sibs per selection candidate.