Abstract
Meat and milk production needs to increase ~ 70–80% relative to its current levels for satisfying the human needs in 2050. However, it is impossible to achieve such genetic gain by conventional animal breeding systems. Based on recent advances with regard to in vitro induction of germ cell from pluripotent stem cells, herein we propose a novel embryo-stem cell breeding system. Distinct from the conventional breeding system in farm animals that involves selecting and mating individuals, the novel breeding system completes breeding cycles from parental to offspring embryos directly by selecting and mating embryos in a dish. In comparison to the conventional dairy breeding scheme, this system can rapidly achieve 30–40 times more genetic gain by significantly shortening generation interval and enhancing selection intensity. However, several major obstacles must be overcome before we can fully use this system in livestock breeding, which include derivation and mantaince of pluripotent stem cells in domestic animals, as well as in vitro induction of primordial germ cells, and subsequent haploid gametes. Thus, we also discuss the potential efforts needed in solving the obstacles for application this novel system, and elaborate on their groundbreaking potential in livestock breeding. This novel system would provide a revolutionary animal breeding system by offering an unprecedented opportunity for meeting the fast-growing meat and milk demand of humans.
Highlights
As the main dietary protein sources, meat and milk production requires approximately 70–80% increase relative to current levels [1, 2] in order to meet the demand of the predicted 9.6 billion human population in 2050 [3, 4]
As most economic traits are controlled by multiple genes/alleles, single marker-assisted selection (MAS) cannot be effectively applied in animal breeding, that is why genomic selection methods are needed for improving selection accuracy
As early as 1980–1990s, it has been recognized that embryonic technoloies such as oocyte pick-up (OPU), in vitro fertilization (IVF), and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) could be potentially applied to intensify breeding process
Summary
As the main dietary protein sources, meat and milk production requires approximately 70–80% increase relative to current levels [1, 2] in order to meet the demand of the predicted 9.6 billion human population in 2050 [3, 4]. Based on the in vitro reconstituted life cycles, an animal breeding cycle can be renewed by directly selecting and mating embryos rather than adult individuals, thereby achieving rapid genetic improvement of important economic traits. The generation interval of the embryo-stem breeding system spans from parental embryos to offspring embryos, involving ESC derivation, in vitro germ cell induction, and IVF.
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