The reproductive efficiency of livestock is crucial for agricultural productivity and economic
sustainability. One critical factor in successful fertilization and the viability of offspring is the …

Cattle are a well-suited “model organism” to study the genetic underpinnings of variation in
male reproductive performance. The adoption of artificial insemination and genomic …

Breeding bulls are well suited to investigate inherited variation in male fertility because they
are genotyped and their reproductive success is monitored through semen analyses and …

Native cattle breeds can carry specific signatures of selection reflecting their adaptation to
the local environmental conditions and response to the breeding strategy used. In this study …

Background The importance of local breeds as genetic reservoirs of valuable genetic
variation is well established. Pig breeding in Central and South-Eastern Europe has a long …

The branch point sequence is a cis-acting intronic motif required for mRNA splicing. Despite
their functional importance, branch point sequences are not routinely annotated. Here we …

Improving reproductive performance remains a major goal in dairy cattle worldwide. Service
sire has been recognized as an important factor affecting herd fertility. The main objective of …

Intensive selection for improved productivity has been accompanied by an increase in
inbreeding rates and a reduction in genetic diversity. The increase in inbreeding tends to …

Undisturbed reproduction is key for successful breeding of beef and dairy cattle. Improving
reproductive ability can be difficult because of antagonistic relationships with other …

Background Cattle are ideally suited to investigate the genetics of male fertility. Semen from
individual bulls is used for thousands of artificial inseminations for which the fertilization …