Genetics Selection Evolution Research Introgression of a major QTL from an inferior into a superior population using genomic selection Jørgen Ødegård*1,2, Anna K Sonesson1, M Hossein Yazdi2 and Theo HE Meuwissen2 BioMed Central Open Access Address: 1Nofima Marine, PO Box 5010 NO-1432, Ås, Norway and 2Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, PO Box 5003, NO-1432, Ås, Norway Email: Jørgen Ødegård* - jorgen.odegard@nofima.no; Anna K Sonesson - anna.sonesson@nofima.no; M Hossein Yazdi - hossein.yazdi@umb.no; Theo HE Meuwissen - theo.meuwissen@umb.no * Corresponding author Published: 27 July 2009 Genetics Selection Evolution 2009, 41:38 doi:10.1186/1297-9686-41-38 This article is available from: http://www.gsejournal.org/content/41/1/38 Received: 12 January 2009 Accepted: 27 July 2009 © 2009 Ødegård et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: Selection schemes aiming at introgressing genetic material from a donor into a recipient line may be performed by backcross-breeding programs combined with selection to preserve the favourable characteristics of the donor population. This stochastic simulation study investigated whether genomic selection can be effective in preserving a major quantitative trait locus (QTL) allele from a donor line during the backcrossing phase. Methods: In a simulation study, two fish populations were generated: a recipient line selected for a production trait and a donor line characterized by an enhanced level of disease resistance. Both traits were polygenic, but one major QTL affecting disease resistance was segregating only within the donor line. Backcrossing was combined with three types of selection (for total merit index) among the crossbred individuals: classical selection, genomic selection using genome-wide dense marker maps, and gene-assisted genomic selection. It was assumed that production could be observed directly on the selection candidates, while disease resistance had to be inferred from tested sibs of the selection candidates. Results: Classical selection was inefficient in preserving the target QTL through the backcrossing phase. In contrast, genomic selection (without specific knowledge of the target QTL) was usually effective in preserving the target QTL, and had higher genetic response to selection, especially for disease resistance. Compared with pure genomic selection, gene-assisted selection had an advantage with respect to disease resistance (28–40% increase in genetic gain) and acted as an extra precaution against loss of the target QTL. However, for total merit index the advantage of gene- assisted genomic selection over genomic selection was lower (4–5% increase in genetic gain). Conclusion: Substantial differences between introgression programs using classical and genomic selection were observed, and the former was generally inferior with respect to both genetic gain and the ability to preserve the target QTL. Combining genomic selection with gene-assisted selection for the target QTL acted as an extra precaution against loss of the target QTL and gave additional genetic gain for disease resistance. However, the effect on total merit index was limited. Page 1 of 10 (page number not for citation purposes)