Review Article

Application aspects of animal and human genomics

Brygida Ślaska, Alexander Makarevič, Magdalena Surdyka, Sylwia Nisztuk

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 13(2), 2014, 3‒18

Abstract. Currently, extensive investigations are being carried out in the area of mitochondrial genomics. Mitochondrial DNA is used in many fields of science, e.g. evolutionism, phylogeography, anthropology, archaeology, forensics, medical diagnostics, veterinary medicine, molecular ecology, population genetics, and animal breeding. Mitochondrial markers, haplotypes, or haplogroups are associated with pathogenesis of diseases, evolution and origin of organisms, and identification of species. An interesting direction based on mitochondrial DNA sequences is the research into polymorphisms/mutations that can be related to economically important utility traits of livestock. The use of mtDNA has drawbacks due to the low power of discrimination and pattern of inheritance. Still, mtDNA has many advantages as a marker; therefore, it is often used in both basic and applied research.

Keywords: breeding, judiciary, medicine, mitochondrial genomics, molecular ecology, mtDNA