[Runs of homozygosity and its application on livestock genome study]

With the rapid development of high-throughput SNP array and significant reduction of sequencing cost, the techniques of genome-resequencing and SNP chip arrays are widely applied in livestock genomic studies. Long runs of homozygosity (ROH) arose when identical haplotypes were inherited from each parent and thus a long tract of genotypes is homozygous. Nowadays, cumulative studies reported that ROH has progressively served as one of the important indexes to estimate the degree of inbreeding and genetic structure of livestock populations. However, the evaluating criteria of ROH in livestock is still inadequate. In this review, we introduce the history, theory and identification methods of ROH analysis. Meanwhile, we also systematically overview the applications and perspectives of ROH in population genetic structure analysis, genome functional assay, quality investigation and dynamic monitoring of livestock genetic resources.