About the Authors

Saber Qanbari

sqanbar@gwdg.de

Affiliation Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany

Tim M. Strom

Affiliation Institute of Human Genetics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany

Georg Haberer

Affiliation Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum Müchen, Neuherberg, Germany

Steffen Weigend

Affiliation Institute of Farm Animal Genetics, Friedrich Loeffler Institut, Neustadt-Mariensee, Germany

Almas A. Gheyas

Affiliation The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Frances Turner

Affiliation The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

David W. Burt

Affiliation The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Rudolf Preisinger

Affiliation Lohmann Tierzucht GmbH, Cuxhaven, Germany

Daniel Gianola

Affiliation Department of Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America

Henner Simianer

Affiliation Animal Breeding and Genetics Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany

Competing Interests

Author RP is employed by Lohmann Tierzucht GmbH. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SQ HS DWB DG. Performed the experiments: TMS RP SW. Analyzed the data: SQ DG HS FT AAG DWB GH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TMS RP FT AAG DWB. Wrote the paper: SQ HS DG.